


Making Amends

by Jubokko, LazarusII



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, BAMF Hatake Kakashi, BAMF Umino Iruka, Discord: Umino Hours, Emotionally Constipated KakaIru, Fluff and Angst, Hatake Kakashi is Bad at Feelings, Headmaster Umino Iruka, Hokage Hatake Kakashi, Human Disaster Kakashi, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Missing-Nin, Mutual Pining, Posing as ANBU, Storms, Undercover, Undercover Exchange, kakairu - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:47:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 31,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26108938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jubokko/pseuds/Jubokko, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LazarusII/pseuds/LazarusII
Summary: It had been months since Kakashi and Iruka last spoke to one another for anything other than business—and over twoyearssince their mutual breakup. Terrible, painful,lonelyyears filled with nothing but shitloads of paperwork and enough politics to make Kakashi want to gag.But his days in office were numbered.That,he could deal with.Iruka, on the other hand…
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka
Comments: 52
Kudos: 215
Collections: Umino Undercover





	1. Empty

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dunloth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dunloth/gifts).



> Hello! 
> 
> This fic is for the Umino Hours "Undercover" exchange! _Please note that the "undercover" part of this fic won't really kick in until next chapter!_
> 
> A HUGE thank you to [42](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BooleanWildcard) for beta-reading this fic! I don't know what I'd do without you! <33
> 
> This work is for the amazing Dunloth! I arguably went a little overboard with the prompt, but after a while the story took on a life of its own and I couldn't resist riding with it till the end!  
> I _really_ hope you enjoy it!! <33

The sky above Konoha was a dark, roiling mass of pitch-black clouds. The slight tang of damp vegetation blanketed the still landscape, a smell of nature reserved only for dewy mornings and rainstorms. 

There was a slight misty quality to the air. Far off in the distance, past the village limits and deep in the surrounding forest, a haze formed a long channel of ominous shadows, which extended as far as the eye could see. Within the veiled region, trees thrashed against one another as the wind tore through their branches. 

Kakashi watched the storm through half-lidded eyes, standing in silent vigil atop the great stone faces, hands in his pockets. 

Not for the first time, he felt that somehow nature had found a way to reflect his own emotions—or rather it was acting against them? He didn’t know. 

Either way, the nervous anticipation for the storm front, which had crossed into the Land of Fire some hours ago, had somehow compounded the deep sense of guilt that sat heavily in the pit of his stomach.

Angling his head towards the village, Kakashi took in the glittering lights. The street vendors had long since stowed their carts and wares, and the farmers had ushered in their livestock in the outer reaches of the city. Everything was silent, as if the very air itself was waiting with bated breath for the hellish wrath to bear down upon the village. 

Humming to himself, he dropped down, landing softly atop one of the spikes jutting out from above his stone face’s hitai-ate, which the artisan had carved in the likeness of Kakashi’s own unruly, silver hair. 

Breathing out a sigh, Kakashi stepped off the side of the forehead protector and channeled chakra into his feet. His eyes followed a crack which had formed across the smoothed stone there, tracing all the way down the bridge of the face’s nose— _ his _ nose—before disappearing into the lip of the mask. 

A similar crack had formed up in his hair, tracing a jagged edge up towards the untouched part of the mountain. Kakashi’s eyes moved to the place just above where he stood, and turned around, feet still glued to the stone. 

Soon, he knew there would be another face there.  _ Naruto’s  _ face. 

Kakashi knew he should be appreciating Konoha, that he  _ should  _ feel proud of everything that had been accomplished under his leadership. But tonight, when the city winked back at him—the shiny, renovated buildings glowing in the semi-darkness—he could only feel the resentment boiling just beneath his carefully-maintained facade of boredom. 

Yes, he’d accomplished a great deal of things as Hokage, and  _ yes _ , he was grateful for the honor of wearing the big hat… But it had not come without sacrifice. 

… And it was slowly becoming abundantly clear that the things he’d given up were what had previously kept him afloat.  _ Sane _ —even through the darkest times of his life. 

Sighing into the breeze, Kakashi folded his arms and stared up into the sky, eyes taking in the slow movement of the clouds. The wind was beginning to pick up, its chill touch caressing his cheek lightly. 

He could sense the lightning, the static charges following the same relentless cycle—building up and then releasing its pent-up energy into the earth in brilliant flashes of light. Years ago, such a storm would have warranted a heightened state of alertness within the village guard, elite jounin, and ANBU forces. 

Back then, they would’ve had to worry about such storms providing cover for an invasion and enemy nin. 

It was a very different world now. 

Kakashi reached out a hand and let his chakra dance across his fingers. A low hum filled the air and a small flash of purple lightning jumped the gap between his thumb and forefinger. 

He missed training with Gai, and sitting in the trees by the river and Academy… He missed being  _ free _ , and the days when he could blend into a crowd without being followed by whispers and stares. 

But what had finally tipped the scales, driving the feelings of helplessness and loathing into his chest like a knife, was of a completely different nature. 

Somewhere down in the village below, reduced to a distant, twinkling speck of light, and likely still awake and shuffling paperwork—as Kakashi’s clone was doing back in his office—was a certain chunin sensei. 

Well, ‘chunin sensei,’ didn’t exactly cover it anymore as far as titles went, because just over two years ago, the man had accepted the position of Headmaster at the Academy. 

Gritting his teeth, Kakashi felt his frustration begin to boil over. He needed to  _ do  _ something, to face a set of challenges which didn’t include mission scrolls and paperwork. 

His hands flashed in a series of familiar hand signs. 

And Kakashi vanished in a small puff of smoke. 

||

The isolated training ground was pitch dark, its usual gravel center barely visible beneath several inches of floodwater, which had already accumulated since the storm’s arrival. Lightning seared through the darkness, blinding in its ferocity, and thunder boomed overhead. Rain whipped back and forth like ever-changing sheets of tiny projectiles, caught in the vicious wind which roared through the nearby trees. 

Kakashi was soaked to the bone, a solitary figure in the midst of the chaos, calm and yet just as conflicted as the weather around him. Chakra hummed through his system, locking his feet down to the ground, the rising water lapping at his ankles. 

His gaze was fixed on the row of training dummies that had been left out. All ten bundles of straw were leaning to the left, mirroring the movements of the trees hanging above them. 

Years before, weather of such severity would warrant use of his Sharingan—but he no longer had that power. 

And, as Kakashi had come to realize, he didn’t need it. 

Barely suppressing a snarl, Kakashi channeled chakra into his fist and drove it into the nearest target dummy, feeling an odd sense of satisfaction when the straw punching bag buckled. Several of the evenly-spaced cloth bindings which held the straw together, snapped beneath his knuckles—and then the pole supporting the dummy split in half with a loud  _ crack _ . 

Kakashi sighed internally.  _ Maa, I might have overdone it.  _

The dummy slammed against the nearest tree and rebounded, its wood support pole now reduced to splinters. 

Grimacing, Kakashi lowered himself to the ground and leaped forwards, coming up to drive his shin into the next target in a wicked side kick. His foot sank into the straw. 

He cursed out loud. Had the target dummies always been so poorly constructed? 

Straw filled the air like confetti as the pulverised construct splashed down a few meters away, only to be carried away in the next gust of wind. 

Kakashi paused for a moment, feet resting lightly atop the floodwater, before he leaped backwards onto the next unlucky training dummy. This one, he pulled into a tight headlock before flipping it into the ground with enough force to shatter a human spine. As he dropped his weight onto the straw, all six bindings came apart, the snapping sound audible even over the roar of the wind and rain. 

Water and mud sprayed in all directions, splattering across the front of his dark gray flak jacket. 

A feral grin began to creep up Kakashi’s face as he roughly threw the training dummy over to join its destroyed companion.  _ This  _ was what he’d missed. 

He was a soldier—an ex-assassin. 

Not some paper-pusher or politician. 

Throwing out a hand, Kakashi gathered his chakra in a familiar pattern, letting it encompass his entire arm. 

It had been months since he and Iruka had last spoken to one another for anything other than business—and over two  _ years  _ since their mutual breakup. Terrible, painful,  _ lonely  _ years filled with nothing but shitloads of paperwork and enough politics to make Kakashi want to gag. 

His time as Hokage would soon be over… but was it too late? Was  _ he  _ too late? 

Standing there, eyes focused on his target, Kakashi felt a wave of frustration and rage overtake his mind. Beneath his mask, the corners of his mouth began to dip, transforming into a snarl.

He’d swallowed the feelings, compartmentalized thoughts, and hidden his emotions behind the duties of being Hokage. 

But lately, with the impending end of his leadership, the pain had returned in full force, nearly tearing him apart. 

_ Two years.  _

Last week, their anniversary had passed by unnoticed and uncelebrated for the second time. 

And the anniversary of their breakup… 

Kakashi could remember the moment as clear as day. Tsunade had been there, handing him a stack of papers that would bring both joy and devastation to his life for years to come. 

_ Iruka’s _ papers—his multiple, shining recommendations and resume—had been stacked at the top, printed on the same durable parchment. Below that had been his application and official request for promotion. And below that… 

Kakashi remembered being happy for the sensei, but feeling that happiness turn increasingly bitter as he flipped through the highlighted section of regulations surrounding the position which the Godiame had printed for him. 

Tsunade’s face had been grim, and she’d squeezed his shoulder. 

_ “I’m sorry, Kakashi.”  _

He had wanted to scream. 

He  _ still  _ wanted to scream. 

_ “Shiden”  _

Chakra danced down Kakashi’s arm in flashes of purple, writhing and twisting as it jumped between the raindrops. 

_ Damn it all.  _

Frustration eating away at his better judgment like a poison, Kakashi lumped just a little extra chakra into the jutsu. There was no sharingan to hold him back, no constant drain on his life energy—and even as the purple lightning flickered to life around his body, the drain on his chakra reserves barely even scratched what had previously been strenuous to his system. 

The night air illuminated in a blinding flash of purple light as the lightning exploded in front of him. Beneath his feet, the water crackled with energy, sending purple jolts up the trunks of several nearby trees, mercilessly tearing into the wood. 

All around him, a halo of crackling energy burst in all directions, humming dangerously. Gritting his teeth, Kakashi pushed the air in front of him, and the lightning cut loose, hissing and screeching as it surged forwards in a blinding flash. 

Eyes widening, Kakashi hurriedly dispelled the jutsu, stumbling slightly with the recoil. 

Before him, the remaining target dummies folded in on themselves. Through the driving rain, Kakashi could make out a charred hole cut through each one, its edges smoldering. Beyond them, Kakashi could see the carved up forest beyond. Even as he watched, a large tree limb groaned, breaking apart at the place where Kakashi had severed its connection to the trunk. 

Lightning marks covered the trees nearby, jagged scars which would never fade. 

Kakashi let out a breath. 

_ Careless. Stupid, _ were the first two words to come to his mind.

He was so distracted… 

And he still had a duty to fulfill. The village was under  _ his  _ protection, and they couldn’t afford to have a leader who was so…  _ unbalanced _ . 

Kakashi’s right hand was steaming, and he absently looked down to realize that he’d accidentally taken most of his glove off with the jutsu. Even as he watched, the metal plate slid off of the top of his hand and splashed down next to his foot. 

_ Oops.  _

Without much of a thought, Kakashi pulled the remnants of his glove off and stuffed the mass of charred cloth into his pocket. 

Squeezing his eyes shut, Kakashi fought to contain his emotions. 

He was the Hokage. It was his honor and  _ privilege  _ to serve the people of Konoha—to lead them, even in days of peace. 

A mental image of Iruka flashed across his mind’s eye and he clenched his fists. 

_ He’s moved on _ , Kakashi told himself.  _ He’s moved on and you’re going to just have to… forget…  _

Hardly for the first time, Kakashi wished that—even just for even a few days—someone would come and take the big hat away from him. 

He’s tired of tiptoeing around Iruka. It would be so much easier if the chunin Headmaster hated him, or if they’d broken up on bad terms.  _ Anything _ but the silent pining and terrible pain he felt when the man’s eyes rested on him just a fraction too long… 

Even rules and regulations aside, it was impossible. The position as Academy Headmaster placed Iruka as Kakashi’s direct subordinate, and while society would not likely question Kakashi for the appointment, Iruka would almost certainly come under fire for being romantically involved with a superior. “Riding the lover’s coattails,” as it were. 

Kakashi would lose respect—not that he cared much when it came to such things… 

But to potentially watch Iruka’s career being destroyed… The sensei was so well loved in the village, and for him, Kakashi Hatake, to be the catalyst for such hate—he  _ couldn’t _ .

  
  


“Kakashi-san.” 

Shikamaru’s voice was calm, but raised in order to be heard across the howling of the wind. 

Clamping down on his emotions, Kakashi forced himself to turn and face the jounin. He itched to run, to launch himself back into the darkness and never face the prospect of paperwork and politics ever again—

Kakashi sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. 

The young jounin’s face was swimming in and out of view, screened by the heavy sheets of rain. Shikamaru’s dark hair was plastered against his face, and his arms raised to shield his eyes. “Your clone kindly informed me  _ not  _ to put the village on alert when I saw your purple lightning. And the ANBU seemed to be somewhat surprised that you gave them the slip. Must be new to the job.”

Kakashi let out a soft huff of amusement. The jounin was right about one thing, the ANBU guarding him  _ were  _ new. Recruited in the past year, if he remembered correctly… 

“Maa, it certainly has been a while since the last time I was able to sneak out,” Kakashi mused. “If you were wondering about the forms due tomorrow—” 

Shikamaru drew closer and folded his arms, fixing the Rokudaime with a pointed look. 

“I’ll take care of it. Take the night off, Kakashi-san.” 

Kakashi felt the wind kick up again with a vengeance, and diverted chakra to his feet in order to stay upright. He frowned. “There still quite a lot left—” 

“We’ll be fine. Just had a few helpers come in. Besides, things are only going to remain calm for so long. Once we go public and set a date for Naruto’s inauguration, you won’t have time off—none of us will. We’ll be up to our necks in work.” 

Sighing, Kakashi stared off into the night, eyes taking in the distant lights of the city. “I suppose you’re right…” 

Shikamaru nodded.

“Have a good night.” 

As the younger shinobi disappeared in a cloud of smoke, Kakashi finally dispelled his shadow clone back in the office, feeling a slight rush as the information raced through his mind. 

A mental image of mission reports and economic stats flew across his vision, all filled out in his own sloppy—yet surprisingly legible—handwriting. He huffed. The clone had made good time. 

Taking one last glance at the semi-destroyed training ground, Kakashi forced himself to move back towards the village. He rubbed his right arm, feeling the sting of the rain against his bare skin. 

For some reason, the prospect of returning home hours early did little to ease his mind. He had no idea what to do with himself now. 

The closer he came to his apartment, the more Kakashi’s mind began to wander. The rain had let up a little, and he no longer needed to use chakra to hold himself. He instead switched to circulating energy about his body to stay warm. 

Eyes focused on the darkened street ahead, Kakashi hadn’t realized where his legs were taking him, and looked up only when a very familiar streetlamp and apple tree came into view. 

He froze, brain momentarily refusing to process what he was seeing—where he was. 

Above him, Iruka’s apartment windows glowed, the curtains pulled back from the living room windows. Kakashi could still recite the silly names that the sensei had assigned to the long-living cacti perched on the windowsills, and count the little glass knick knacks which Naruto always kept bringing back for him. 

It wasn’t  _ that  _ late… Iruka was probably still doing paperwork and drinking his favorite chai blend. Kakashi pictured the chunin, seated at the low table in his living room, comfortable and… 

He closed his eyes.  _ Was  _ Iruka sensei happy? 

Kakashi hugged himself, feeling a chill enter his body. 

He longed to climb the steps up to the apartment, to knock on the door and stand once more in the comfort of Iruka’s apartment. 

Instead, Kakashi bowed his head and kept moving, his feet dragging through the several inches of floodwater which now filled the street. 

* * *

Three days after the storm, Kakashi was working like a madman, surprising even Shikamaru as he attacked paperwork with renewed vigor. 

More than anything, he felt numbed by the whole experience, as if somehow annihilating half of the remote training ground had placed an invisible barrier between his heart and mind. 

At some point, he began to use clones as well, barely registering the added chakra drain to his usual fatigue. 

He took a soldier pill during lunch, sneaking it in before anyone could notice. 

On the fourth day, Kakashi received an updated schedule from the Academy, typed in the typical, boring font which Iruka preferred. 

Kakashi’s eyes widened as he took in the coming weekend. The following Monday, one week from now, was a holiday. In bright blue letters, spanning the three-day weekend, read the words  _ “graduating class field trip.”  _

_ Ah.  _

The trip was a part of the new system Iruka had put in, a rather subtle test to help split the pre-genin into their respective teams. Kakashi ultimately still had the final say in the matter, but any amount of extra notes or data could only help the decision. 

He gently set down the paper on his desk and folded his hands over it, lacing his fingers together. 

Studying the bolded lettering, he felt the ever-present yearning grow inside his chest. 

It was a long weekend—three days—and there was only  _ one  _ class leaving… 

_ Iruka has to have at least some time off, right?  _ He thought. 

Taking a deep breath, Kakashi’s hand found the rapidly-cooling mug of tea he’d made earlier. He spun it on the coaster without thinking. 

He knew he would be pushing it…he was an adult—the  _ Hokage _ —and should have better control of himself… But was it soon enough? His term  _ was  _ ending soon, so was it possible… 

Would Iruka even want him anymore? 

The office door banged open and a pair of young chunin stumbled in carrying impossibly high stacks of papers. Shikamaru slipped in behind them before the doors closed again, a clipboard held beneath one arm as he carried his own share of documents. 

All three of them deposited their armloads of stuff on the long table off to Kakashi’s right. Due to his efforts, the amount of papers on said construct was certainly less than usual, but with the addition of the new stacks, Kakashi felt his spirits sink just a little. 

Moving the schedule aside, he made up his mind. 

He would at least  _ tell  _ Iruka that his term was ending soon. And when he did, he’d likely find out whether the relationship was salvageable. 

But if there even was a slight chance that the chunin would say yes to spending a day together, Kakashi would need to prepare  _ now _ . 

He looked back at the calendar just to clarify that he wasn’t hallucinating. The trip was just over a week away. 

Gripping his pen just a little tighter, Kakashi pulled the nearest form towards him. 

_ Maa—it’s time to get serious about these papers, then.  _

||

It took about three hours for Shikamaru to figure out his motives. Granted, Kakashi hadn’t exactly  _ hidden  _ the fact…

Either way, the Nara jounin took one look at the updated Academy calendar and the three Kakashis scattered across the office—hunched over their own stacks of work—and immediately broke into something between a smile and an expression of disapproval. 

Shikamaru was one of the few shinobi who knew about Iruka and Kakashi’s past relationship, and the  _ fact  _ that he knew didn’t bother Kakashi in the slightest. In many cases, the aide had helped keep Kakashi on his toes and in the clear, indirectly redirecting the Rokudaime’s attention when he became distracted. 

But in more recent times, Shikamaru seemed to be less worried about keeping Kakashi focused on his job, and more more on preventing him from putting a well-placed lightning jutsu through the desk. 

Upon being discovered, Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

. Shikamaru shrugged in response. “I doubt anyone would care up top.” The aide said softly. “It’ll be risky until you officially pass the torch, but it’s not like how it was. It’s  _ them  _ you’ll have to be worried about, if you aren’t careful.”

The boy gestured out the window at the village beyond. 

Humming, Kakashi nodded slightly, appreciating the thoughtfulness of Shikamaru’s words. The boy didn’t sugarcoat things, but he was almost always spot on when trying to predict how the elders would react… and the village, for that matter.

“Besides, you could use a day off,” the aide’s brown eyes stared down at Kakashi, “how long has it been now? Years?” 

Kakashi huffed slightly and shook his head. “Something like that,” he replied, eyes already roving across the new set of mission reports in front of him. 

||

Some time later, Kakashi got a call from downstairs that a group of pre-genin had finally committed a “Naruto-level” prank and were on their way up. 

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Kakashi only had a few second’s warning before a group of pre-genin were practically dragged before him. Apparently this trio had accidentally melted a statue near the village square. 

The feat itself, as Kakashi heard it, was quite impressive. After all, who knew that such an odd selection of completely basic jutsu could have such an effect when combined? 

As the tearful trio of pre-genin stared at him, Kakashi found himself taken aback by the level of terror that he sensed from the kids. It wasn’t the same fear that they seemed to show towards other authorities… and he once again was given a reminder of the stories which these kids could have grown up hearing about him. 

Copy Ninja Kakashi.

Sharingan no Kakashi. 

_ Cold-Blooded _ Kakashi. 

_ …Friend-Killer Kakashi. _

Usually the Academy higher-ups handled the children—another part of Iruka’s disciplinary reforms within the Academy’s system. This time, however, the magnitude of the pre-genin’s little ‘accident,’ had bypassed any previous protocol and landed them right in his office. 

A Naruto-worthy feat to be sure. 

Kakashi leaned forward and rested his chin on his hands. The kids shrank back. Iruka would yell, he knew the chunin would… destroying, damaging, even defacing something was serious enough to warrant fairly severe disciplinary action by the authorities. 

But one look at the sheer terror in their faces made something twist in Kakashi’s gut. He’d been Hokage for how long now? Ten years. And somehow there were  _ still  _ kids in the village who believed that he would harm them if they messed up—a callback to his history perhaps… 

There were more ranks in the hierarchy now to deal with discipline and damage control, meaning Kakashi’s contact with any pre-genin had been dramatically reduced. Hardly for the first time, he wished that Iruka was here, that the chunin could guide him through how to handle kids nowadays—kids who were not already killers or shinobi… innocents without the weight of war and death on their shoulders… 

Tsunade would have yelled, just like Iruka, and instilled fear, but still compassion. Despite her prickly outside and rather heavy-handed approach with discipline, the Godaime had been well loved. 

Hiruzen had been far gentler, guiding and delegating tasks, getting the point across firmly but with just enough of an edge to teach the wrongdoer not to repeat their mistakes. 

Kakashi wasn’t Tsunade, and  _ certainly  _ wasn’t Hiruzen. In many respects, both previous Hokage had been more personable, and often related to the ranks of young shinobi currently in training. He, on the other hand, was not nearly as active on that front. 

As he was so often reminded, Kakashi was a soldier. 

And while he excelled at certain aspects of his leadership role, others just… didn’t sit right, even after years of practice. 

  
  


The kids cowered under his glare—only to widen their eyes in shock as Kakashi broke out into a smile. Eyes crinkling, Kakashi expressed how impressed he was with their jutsu experiment, before assigning them to repair the training field that he’d decimated earlier that week. 

After giving them a final warning not to go about melting statues in the future, Kakashi watched the kids leave his office. All of them appeared visibly relieved, their eyes glazed over, and sporting slightly vacant expressions. 

Harrumphing, Kakashi reached to grip a fresh set of paperwork, only to freeze as he sensed a presence in the doorway. A  _ very  _ familiar presence. 

Instantly, he felt his heart beat just a little faster.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything, Hokage-sama.” The words were blunt, but spoken softly, polite and yet without edge. 

Kakashi set the papers back down on his desk and carefully lined them up with his fingers, before blinking up at the Academy Headmaster standing by the door. 

“Please, come in.” Kakashi hated how painfully formal things had become between them. 

_ Hokage-sama.  _ Kakashi already disliked the use of the title among friends, but in Iruka’s case… it hit just a bit too close to home. 

Iruka stepped into the room, clad in his usual, high-collared blue coat and loose pants. The man looked slightly embarrassed, a faint flush visible across his cheeks. Behind the chunin Headmaster, the thick, double doors closed with a soft  _ click _ . 

Kakashi’s heart raced. It had been a  _ long  _ time since they had been in the same room together… A conscious choice on both their parts. 

“Maa, please—just Kakashi.” He said, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“My apologies.” Iruka’s voice came out somewhat strained, and the man shifted slightly, brown eyes moving towards the two clones now working on either side of the room at temporary desks. As they’d been instructed, neither clone visibly looked up from their work—or stop. 

Iruka seemed slightly unnerved, and Kakashi mentally kicked himself. Of course the man would be on edge. And things were awkward enough  _ without  _ multiple Kakashis. 

The two clones disappeared in puffs of smoke—and Kakashi resisted the urge to groan aloud as new information flooded his brain. While  _ he  _ had been practicing restraint on his observations of the chunin—his clones had not. 

A train of thought, generously gifted to him by the clone stationed closer to the door, had noticed that Iruka clearly had stayed in shape over the years… and had also,  _ covertly _ , managed to observe the man’s ass with great interest. 

Iruka shifted again, and finally broke the silence. “I see that you met the latest village troublemakers.” He huffed. “I’d say that you let them off a bit easily if I wasn’t so impressed that you managed to actually scare them shitless.”

Kakashi hummed and let out a soft laugh, “I had no part in their expressions of pure terror—but I guess I may be getting old after all...” 

Taking a deep breath, he looked up into Iruka’s face. He wanted to kiss him, to wrap his arms around the man and never let go. 

And so when Kakashi saw a similar hunger reflected in the chunin’s face, he nearly did a double take. 

Another silence fell. Finally, Kakashi couldn’t stand it anymore. He had to say  _ something _ . 

“Maa, what brings you here, sensei?” 

Iruka sighed softly and stepped back, folding his arms. “I just thought… it’s been a while. Might as well see how you’re doing. Can’t afford to have our leader in trouble.” 

Slowly, Kakashi rose to his feet and worked his way around the papers in order to lean against the desk. He hated talking to Iruka like this, as if it was all business. 

“Hm. I’ve been doing well, sensei.” Kakashi folded his arms. “Yourself?” 

Iruka huffed and mirrored him. “It’s pretty busy over there,” he admitted, “but otherwise, I’ve been fine…” His voice trailed off. 

Kakashi didn’t know who had taken the first step, but somehow, he found himself practically nose-to-nose with the chunin Headmaster. 

“I—” Iruka looked up at him, large brown eyes wide. 

Kakashi could feel his hand rising. This was a dream, this  _ had  _ to be a dream…

“—shouldn’t.” 

He froze.

And then the door banged open, just as Tsunade’s shout echoed through the air. 

_ “Hey, brat—”  _ Kakashi could see the Godaime’s eyes widen, and suddenly he became painfully aware just how close he and Iruka were standing. 

Kakashi  _ also  _ became aware that, at some point, Iruka had planted what could only be interpreted as an accusatory finger right in the center of his chest. The chunin was now  _ glaring  _ at him.

If it was an act, it was a pretty  _ damn  _ good one. 

Slowly, the chunin Headmaster backed off, face burning, offered Tsunade a bow, and then made a hasty exit. 

The Godaime folded her arms, before narrowing her eyes at Kakashi. 

“I was coming to assist Naruto in his transition into office,” she said crisply, “but it seems there are more things happening than I was aware of.”

Light brown eyes bored into Kakashi’s skull. 

“Explain yourself,  _ brat _ .” 

* * *

The rest of the day following Iruka’s visit—and the subsequent, ruthless grilling from Tsunade—dragged by with agonizing slowness. Kakashi kept finding his thoughts drifting back to the chunin, only to wince slightly when he remembered the  _ hell  _ that Godiame had put him through. 

Surprisingly, it hadn’t taken him very long to at least half-convince the woman of the truth—that he and Iruka had  _ not  _ been breaking regulation. Either way, Tsunade had left his office with a rather troubled expression on her face. 

In addition to his distracted state, the sheer amount of busywork Kakashi was attempting to cram together was just exhausting, and using shadow clones only accelerated his fatigue.

Every now and then, he dispelled a clone in order to catch a breather. Soon, however, Kakashi found that his brain was steadily growing numb as the immense amount of data that he and the two clones had been processing was dumped into his consciousness. 

Shikamaru was in and out of the office, as were the two other chunin aides. It was only for that reason that Kakashi became aware of just how productive he was, despite his wandering thoughts. It was arguable, however, that most of the work was being completed by his clones… 

Either way, each time the chunin entered the room, their eyes would widen slightly at the steadily-shrinking piles of forms and data. Shikamaru would just shake his head and smile, eyes falling to the Academy calendar which still rested on the corner of Kakashi’s desk. 

When three o’clock came around, Kakashi slowly eased himself up out of the chair. He hadn’t eaten yet, and felt more than a little bit of stiffness in his joints. Suppressing a groan, he stretched, his knees and elbows popping rather alarmingly as he moved. 

Across the room, one of his clones looked up and snickered at him. 

Kakashi scrunched up his nose. “Hypocrite.”

Reaching down, Kakashi absently swirled the dregs of his fourth cup of tea that day, before downing it in one sip. He had made an attempt to  _ not  _ revert back his coffee habit in the last couple days. He’d sworn off the stuff a few months back, but between his long hours and near-constant use of shadow clones, the extra caffeine boost might come in handy… 

Kakashi scooped the stack of mission reports and shoved them towards the nearest clone— _ not _ Mr. Disrespectful over in the corner—and instructed it to keep going. The clone nodded and accepted the new stack with only a vague hint of dismay.

Rolling his shoulders, Kakashi alerted his ANBU guards that he was going out, before flying through a series of hand signals. 

Moments later, he poofed into existence in the main lobby of the Academy, his white robe swirling dramatically, just as the faint wail of an alarm rang, audible even through the heavy double doors. 

There came a few yells of surprise from nearby, and Kakashi looked over to see a few pre-genin seated around a table nearby, their eyes wide. 

“Yo!” He raised a hand and waved to the group of kids, only to receive a few panicked bows and waves in return. 

Suppressing the urge to sigh, Kakashi turned towards the main office, praying that Iruka wouldn’t kill him for setting off the building’s internal proximity alarm— _ again _ . 

Kakashi waved at the attendant behind the desk through the glass. For a moment, he caught the kunoichi’s rather irritated look as she fiddled with the alarm’s controls, but the expression soon turned to shock—and then guilt.

“Hokage-sama,” she gasped, and then stood up quickly in order to give him a bow. 

Smiling, Kakashi kindly asked her to alert the Headmaster of his presence, before returning to the lobby area. The pre-genin were still staring, their eyes following his every move.

Without hesitation, he drew out the copy of  _ Icha Icha  _ which he’d swapped out the previous night, and seated himself in the chair nearest to the office doors. The telltale orange cover was now hidden behind what he’d supposed was a far less  _ suggestive  _ title. 

He was only sitting for a few minutes before he heard hurried footsteps. Looking over, Kakashi watched as the chunin Headmaster burst through the double doors. Panting slightly, Iruka stared at him, face slightly flushed, before bowing slightly. 

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Hokage-sama.” 

Kakashi mentally bookmarked the page he was on before closing the disguised novel with a snap. He tucked it inside his robe, conscious of the way that Iruka’s eyes followed the movement. 

Iruka smirked as he led Kakashi through the maze of narrow hallways and into the office. 

Raising an eyebrow, Kakashi gave him a look. 

Iruka shook his head. “So who convinced you to finally put a cover on that damn book?” 

Kakashi put a hand on his hip and feigned hurt. “Maa, Sensei—I’m hurt.” Then he hesitated, reddening slightly. “Tsunade said she’d burn my collection. Shouldn’t have stashed them all where she used to hide sake in the office.”

Iruka let out a bark of laughter and rolled his eyes. “Well, we can’t have our Hokage walking around reading porn, now can we?”

While Kakashi’s office was spacious and filled with tables, papers, and a random sofa for visitors, Iruka’s was long and filled with an array of furniture that made it feel like a rather large living room—a living room which so happened to have a large desk near the far end. 

Seating himself on the couch nearest the Headmaster’s desk, Kakashi leaned back into the cushions and tried not to reveal just how nervous he was. His heartbeat had picked up the very moment the chunin Headmaster had come close to him, and increased tenfold once they started walking. And now… 

Now, he was expected to talk, to say something; to have a  _ reason  _ for this visit. 

Frowning, Iruka seemed to have just as much trouble being in Kakashi’s presence. Even as Kakashi sat there, watching, the man seemed to wage mental warfare with himself about whether to sit on the couch across from him or back at the desk. 

The couch option won, and Iruka sat down with a sigh. 

For a moment, they both sat there in a rather painful silence. Then Iruka shifted, clearing his throat. 

“I hope this morning didn’t cause you too much trouble… Ho—Kakashi-san.” The man flushed and rubbed his nose. 

Kakashi hummed, “hm, Tsunade-sama means well, but she also hasn’t been around the village very often. It wasn’t much trouble, but I had to explain to her that we weren’t…” He paused, suddenly aware that he was revealing quite a lot. “... Involved…” 

His last words came out rather shaky, and he mentally kicked himself for his phrasing. 

Iruka let out a breath, eyes moving to the window behind the desk. “I see.” 

Kakashi leaned forward onto his elbows, “that’s actually, uh… what I wanted to talk about.” 

Though Iruka seemed to relax slightly into the couch, Kakashi noticed a subtle tension enter his body, as well as a hint of resignation in his eyes. 

He sighed. “Well, sort of…” Rubbing the back of his neck, Kakashi looked up at the ceiling. 

_ Well, here goes nothing. He’ll hear the news soon anyway…  _

“I’m… stepping down as Hokage soon—passing on the torch to Naruto.”

Iruka blinked at him, clearly caught off guard. 

Kakashi’s eyes searched the room for something—anything— _anywhere_ but the man sitting in front of him. He struggled to find words, the correct way to articulate his decision _without_ implying any sort of personal motivation in the matter… 

He settled with a shrug, knowing full well that it wasn’t much better than any scenario he’d cooked up in his head.

Iruka drew in a breath before getting to his feet. Arms crossed, his expression hardening, Kakashi couldn’t help but feel a slight tearing sensation in his chest as the brown eyes burned into him. There was an inferno suppressed behind the man’s carefully-blank facade. 

_ Take it as it goes.  _

Kakashi mentally braced himself. 

“How to put this.” Iruka’s voice was soft. “I know you’ve been in office for quite some time—so it makes sense…” 

The chunin Headmaster pinched the bridge of his nose before looking up at Kakashi, gaze unflinching. And when he spoke, his voice was bitter. “Well, I might as well say it—You’d better not be doing this because of  _ us _ , Kakashi. We both made our own choices. I regret this morning—” 

Kakashi found himself unwilling to hear the rest of the man’s train of thought. “—and if I was?” 

He  _ wasn’t _ , the transfer had started months ago, quietly and very much under the radar. Although, he  _ had  _ hinted at it during the last Kage summit… 

“I think we both know what would happen.” Iruka set his jaw and  _ glared _ at him, hackles rising.

Kakashi’s gut twisted, and he pushed himself to his feet, assuming his trademark bored expression. “It’s a good thing it's not, then.” 

Iruka seemed to deflate, but Kakashi still sensed anger radiating off the man.

Kakashi leaned against the end of the sofa and gazed out the window, doing his best not to fidget. The tension in the room was wearing on his nerves. More than anything, he wanted to embrace the man, kiss him, or just _ run away _ . 

“Isn’t it a bit soon, though,” Iruka broke in on his thoughts. “Naruto is still young, and he has a family now. One would only assume that he’d wait a bit longer.”

Feeling his spirits sink even farther, Kakashi looked back at the chunin Headmaster. He desperately wanted to find and hit a reset button on this conversation, to go back and  _ prepare  _ for the reaction he was receiving. 

“He’s been a part of the process for some time now.” He replied, wincing at how cold his voice had become. 

Whether Kakashi liked it or not, ‘cold’ did the trick. 

Iruka’s expression crumpled and he sighed heavily, giving Kakashi a searching look. “My apologies again, Hokage-sama. It’s not my place to question you—”

_ Hokage-sama. Again with the formalities.  _

A loud knock echoed through the room, and Kakashi had the odd urge to hurl at something at the door as the female attendant stuck her head into the office. She reddened slightly as she caught sight of Kakashi. 

“Hokage-sama,” she nodded to him, and then fixed Iruka with a stare. “You have an appointment waiting for you in the main office, Headmaster.” 

As the door snapped closed once more, Iruka smiled, looking exhausted. The man let out a dry, humorless laugh, and looked back up at Kakashi. “Looks like we’re both busy, huh?” 

The timing was bad and Kakashi knew it, but if he knew if he waited any longer, he would lose the chance to ask. 

Shoving his fears to the back of his mind, he straightened up and offered the Headmaster a smile,“maa, Sensei, it seems that I’m beginning to get ahead in my paperwork. With the Academy having a holiday… I was hoping…” 

Kakashi was losing confidence with every passing second. A part of him expected Iruka to kick him out, but also Iruka  _ knew  _ that one didn’t just “get ahead” on Hokage paperwork without a serious amount of commitment. 

What Kakashi did  _ not  _ count on was the acute regret and longing which filled Iruka’s face. “I’m sorry, Kakashi-san,” the man whispered, “I would, but I’m  _ going  _ on the field trip as one of the advisors.” 

Feeling an odd tightening sensation in his chest, Kakashi told Iruka it was alright—although Iruka certainly didn’t seem to agree—before making a hasty exit. The chunin Headmaster was busy—and would be even  _ busier  _ come graduation season. 

Landing back in his familiar office after a rather hurried teleportation jutsu, Kakashi half-collapsed into his chair, and spun himself slowly with one foot. 

There were more papers on the tables now, even with the sole remaining clone who still worked tirelessly at one of the desks. The other clone had disappeared, probably pulled off on some business by one of the chunin aides.

Instead of returning to his duty, Kakashi found himself only able to stare at the wall and wonder how on earth he was supposed to find the motivation to finish it all. 

_ You shouldn’t have gotten your hopes up _ , he chided himself. 

With a heavy heart, Kakashi picked up the Academy calendar, crumpled it into a tight ball, and tossed it into the nearest wastebasket. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can find find me on Tumblr [here](https://akumu-jubokko.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and I hope to see you in the next chapter <33
> 
> Have an amazing rest of your day!


	2. Initiative

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You know the risks involved, Kakashi.” The Godaime looked at him, eyes softening slightly.  
> “Yes, Tsunade-same.” This time, Kakashi met her gaze. “And I am prepared to take responsibility for my actions, should anything happen.” 
> 
> [Kakashi decides to take matters into his own hands]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is chapter 2!  
> As you might have noticed, the chapter count _has_ increased! The fic really did need the extra chapter, at least when it came to pacing.
> 
> Gonna slap a **language warning** here. Tsunade is in this chapter, so one can only assume what'll happen... 
> 
> Hope you enjoy! <33

The days following Kakashi and Iruka’s  _ encounter  _ were a blur of meetings, paperwork, and more cups of coffee than Kakashi cared to count. Shikamaru had started to worry about him, which was certainly something to consider, but Kakashi had waved aside the aide’s concerns and pushed forwards either way. 

Making clones was getting more difficult—or rather, the difficult part was making clones that  _ didn’t  _ want to snooze on the spot. 

Kakashi had tossed aside the idea of finding “motivation” after the first night, realizing that he was both too soon and too late in speaking to the chunin Headmaster. 

Work kept him going, but Kakashi longed to go out and train, even in his exhausted state. True, the condition of his body might lead him to regret the rigorous exercise, but at least it would give him  _ some  _ kind of mental break… Because, more than anything, Kakashi felt empty again. Alone. 

It was as though some divine power had taken his mind all the way back to his ANBU days, to the moments when all he wanted was to be given a hug and yet could not allow anyone close enough for any hope of comfort. 

As the Academy trip drew closer, Kakashi found his mind following the chunin Headmaster more frequently. He was getting lost in old memories of dates and other special moments that they’d shared. Every single thought felt like a punch to the gut, but somehow Kakashi couldn’t break the vicious cycle. 

Finally, two days before the students’ departure to the ocean, Kakashi was able to tear himself free of the pain. All it took was a few missing nin sightings to the far West, the deployment of a shinobi team, and an early-morning “emergency” meeting with the Academy board. 

Kakashi was in the process of getting ready to meet the Academy higher-ups when Shikamaru pulled him aside, practically dragging him back through the double doors as he attempted to leave. 

The jounin glowered at him, hands on his hips. “With due respect, Kakashi-san, you  _ need  _ to get some rest. To put it rather bluntly, you look like hell right now.” 

Exhaling, Kakashi fixed the aide with a tired glare. “Maa, I appreciate your concern—” He pulled open one of the double doors, but hesitated when Shikamaru’s expression changed to something along the lines of an evil smirk. 

“Well, if you don’t hear it from me,” Shikamaru tilted his head towards a point just over Kakashi’s shoulder, “I’m sure that you’ll hear it from  _ him _ .” 

_ Shit.  _

Almost dreading what he’d see, Kakashi turned slowly towards the hall. Iruka was walking towards them, a stack of official papers tucked beneath an arm, and a mug of tea gripped in the other. 

Upon seeing Kakashi, Iruka’s lips tightened. 

“Best of luck, Hokage-sama.” Shikamaru pulled the door closed, leaving Kakashi stuck outside his office with the rather grumpy-looking Headmaster. 

Kakashi put on his best smile and rubbed the back of his neck, self consciously.

||

Iruka’s eyes followed Kakashi throughout the rest of the meeting, a hint of fire dancing just beneath the carefully maintained expression of calm. Even after its conclusion, Kakashi could still feel the man’s gaze searing into his back as he practically dragged himself back to the office. 

Two years ago, before Kakashi’s life had turned upside-down, he knew he’d have been given an earful for pushing himself this hard. A part of him still expected that rant to come his way—and  _ wanted  _ it. 

But the hallway was full of the Academy’s board members, many of whom ranked among Konoha’s elite. Kakashi’s lip curled as he fought back a renewed wave of frustration.  _ Those  _ were the people he was supposed to please—the same ring of judgmental pricks who were actively standing between himself and the only person who had given a damn whether Kakashi was alive or dead before he got in the chair. 

The clone he’d left was still working, nose nearly pressed to the desk’s surface as it struggled to decipher the handwriting on what looked like an S-rank mission scroll. Shikamaru was nowhere to be seen. 

_ Good.  _

Releasing the shadow clone, Kakashi threw himself back down into the chair, picked up the unfinished mission scroll, and slammed it down onto the floor beside his desk. Pulling a blank note towards him, he took a series of breaths before scrawling Konohamaru and Sai’s names onto the paper. 

The field trip was still on and the two jounin would be their escorts—a simple solution. 

Biting into his thumb, Kakashi summoned Pakkun, both too chakra-depleted and irritated to deal with any other of the ninken. 

The pug gave him a thorough dressing down before jumping out the window, carrying Sai and Konohamaru’s mission instructions in his jaws. 

||

Near midday, Tsunade kicked him out of the office. 

At some point after the meeting, Kakashi’s energy had finally crashed, and the former Hokage had walked in on him sleeping facedown in the upcoming genin selection forms. 

A few choice insults, a lot of complaining on his part, and a terrifyingly valid threat of bodily harm, had Kakashi wandering around the village for the second time that week. 

In a daze, Kakashi found himself nodding off in a tree. His sleepy brain, to some degree, registered that he was sitting in  _ the  _ tree—the one above the bench where he always used to read... where he and Iruka had first talked… but all that soon gave way to the deep fatigue that he’d been pushing against for days now. 

Kakashi fell asleep to the smug realization that his ANBU guards had likely found his resting place  _ highly  _ unsatisfactory. 

If anyone had noticed the Hokage sleeping up in the branches, they didn’t make too much of a fuss. 

But clearly, someone  _ had  _ noticed, because when Kakashi reawakened, there was a bento box and a small travel cup waiting for him on the bench below.

Brow furrowing, Kakashi looked from the food to the ANBU who had just materialized off to his right. The ninja gestured towards the food and sent him the  _ ok  _ through a series of coded hand motions. 

Shrugging more to himself than anyone in particular, Kakashi slid down the trunk of the tree, and gathered his Hokage robe about himself before investigating the mysterious gift. 

If there was any doubt in Kakashi’s mind about  _ who  _ had left the bento, they vanished once he unscrewed the lid from the travel mug. 

It was chai tea. 

Unable to stop the giddiness which flooded his mind, Kakashi returned to his office in a puff of smoke, the bento lunch clutched to his chest. An idea was beginning to form in the back of his mind. It was crazy, but somehow he found the prospect oddly compelling. 

As soon as he got back to his desk, Kakashi fished out his notes on the Academy trip, as well as the schedule which Iruka had been required to submit alongside the budget proposal. 

The duty-bound part of Kakashi’s brain was grating terribly against his impulses, aggressively reminding him that now was hardly the right time to even  _ consider  _ what his heart wanted. 

_ You’re the Hokage,  _ the voice told him,  _ so start acting like it.  _

Kakashi shook himself.

_ Too late.  _

Having committed the details to memory, he replaced the papers before digging into the food with gusto. 

* * *

Kakashi was walking back to his office after a break, when he heard his name. Slowing, he quickly cast a concealing jutsu to suppress his chakra signature, before moving towards the door in question. 

It was one of the upper conference rooms, the same one, in fact, that he had met the Academy board members in earlier that day. This time, however, the door was left ajar. 

An ANBU materialized off to his right, and Kakashi shook his head, motioning for the masked shinobi to stand down. Mask dipping slightly, the ANBU backed off. 

Leaning casually against the outside of the doorframe, careful not to make a sound, Kakashi angled his head closer, not caring for a second that he was blatantly eavesdropping. 

Kakashi heard Shikamaru click his tongue. “—what a drag.”

Tsunade’s voice was crisp. “I feel bad for the brat.” 

_ Ah _ . 

Kakashi already had an idea of where this conversation was headed. If anything, he felt even more inclined to listen, despite the slight sinking sensation he felt in the pit of his stomach at the possible implications of being talked about. 

He wrinkled his nose slightly at the word ‘ _ brat’ _ . There were not many people out there who would openly call him by a nickname of such nature, especially to his face. Off the top of his head, Kakashi could only think of Tsunade and Naruto, the boy having always labelled him as a “pervert” even from his genin days. 

“I can vouch for him, you know?” Shikamaru sounded tired. “It might not seem like it, but everything that you’ve seen since your arrival is recent.”

Tsunade hummed, and Kakashi was sure that she was shaking her head. “That doesn’t bother me nearly as much as the rule itself. It’s the fucking regulation that pisses me off—and how it boxes in anyone who doesn’t want to openly commit.” 

Kakashi suddenly didn’t want to hear any more. Of course, he knew the rules, but they’d been dug up by Tsunade as a warning. He’d resented her intervention, but soon realized that he’d be shooting the messenger if he ever confronted her about it. 

She’d protected both of them—Iruka and himself, from the wrath and humiliation of Konoha’s elite circle. 

If he and Iruka had  _ openly  _ committed to one another before Kakashi was inaugurated, things would’ve been different; if they had gotten married—as Kakashi certainly thought and dreamed about more than he’d admit—things would have also been different. 

But no—Kakashi had been placed in office, and any relationship he forged afterwards with any direct subordinate, would immediately place him in violation of the regulation. 

“The anti-fraternization policy was necessary.” Tsunde’s voice sounded tight, “and I still think it is to a certain extent, but that doesn’t make me want to strangle the elders any less when I see people being hurt by it.” 

Shikamaru let out an audible breath. “I have half a mind to let him go,” the aide admitted.

When Tsunade next spoke, her voice was so low that even Kakashi’s sharp hearing could not catch her first few words. “—working like a maniac, I can’t believe this. I had five chunin on the job and he did it with two fucking clones. The hours he must’ve been pulling...”

“Well, Tsunade-sama, it was wartime during your term.” 

The Godaime huffed slightly. “Phht, like that matters. It’s all so different now, and yet I still see the same shit as I did back. Duty always in the way—if it were him I’d say ‘fuck the regulations’ and go. The brat’s already been that chair twice as long as I was.” 

There was a short pause. “Something you’ll come to realize once you get to his age… time is precious. Live while you can and cherish those moments. Too late and it’s gone...” 

Kakashi’s eyes fell. That hit home. He knew she was referring to Dan, to Jiraiya, but Kakashi found his mind travelling back to his own ghosts. Obito. Rin. Minato. 

_ Iruka.  _

“I’ll alert the ANBU,” Kakashi almost missed Shikamaru’s words. 

“You’re really that sure that he’ll go then?”

Shikamaru harrumphed, and Kakashi could picture the aide crossing his arms. “Almost positive.”

Sensing that the conversation was nearing its end, Kakashi retreated from the door and made his way back to his office. 

||

Just before dinnertime, Kakashi finally reigned in his thoughts and summoned Tsunade and Naruto to his office. 

Leaning back in his chair, Kakashi sighed and stared out the large windows, noting the streaks of orange and pink which had already begun to arc across the blue sky, deepening in color slightly to the West. 

Thoughts of Iruka came across Kakashi’s mind and he sighed heavily, rising to his feet. He felt oddly torn, like a piece of cloth slowly being stretched in multiple directions. Duty. Honor. Emotions. Love. Rules. Appearance. 

So many elements had been foreign to him since taking office, appearance and regulations at the head of the line. 

It wasn’t that he  _ hated  _ the big hat—or the responsibilities that came with it—but rather that the job had clipped his wings, and subtly instilled a deep-seeded sense of guilt within his consciousness whenever he indulged in any  _ personal  _ wants or needs. Moreso in recent months than ever. 

Huffing slightly, Kakashi eased the Hokage robe from his shoulders and half-folded the thing before tossing it onto the edge of his desk—now somehow miraculously devoid of papers. 

He stuck his hands in his pockets. 

_ Was  _ he being selfish? Was it really a sin for him to be doing this now? 

A part of Kakashi  _ hated _ knowing that there was an end in sight to his leadership. If there hadn’t been a date—a countable, clear finish line—, maybe he could’ve avoided the mess inside his head. His whole life seemed to revolve around the agonizingly slow hours and weeks now.

And as the elders always said, there was no better way to slow down time, than to count the passing seconds. 

But it was a selfish wish, and Kakashi knew it. Naruto needed all the guidance he could get before taking over, and in all likelihood, Kakashi would hang around for awhile just to help the boy adjust. It had taken him nearly a year to learn all the ins and outs of leadership on such a scale, and many more years to adjust to the delicate networks of power, duty, and command which came with the chair. 

He knew it was an honor and privilege, and still felt it down to his bones—but in more recent times, he found that he needed to remind himself of the fact more often. 

The other part of Kakashi twisted, the part of him which had been repressed since the moment he and Iruka had parted ways. It was the same part of him which had unwittingly demolished the training field and led him to the Academy after months of silence. 

It was  _ also  _ the part of him which had warmed the moment he’d found the bento box, and was now urging him to take a step back from leadership—to put aside the responsibility and duty which had consumed his life since the war. 

Shikamaru came in softly, gently shutting the double doors behind him and slowly easing himself into the nearest desk chair. Kakashi turned his head towards the aide and nodded in greeting, thankful for the silence. 

Dipping his head in return, the aide set down the clipboard he’d been carrying and began to scan through a list. Kakashi was too far away to see the individual points, but he recognized the word  _ ‘ANBU’ _ near the top. 

Thinking back to the conversation he’d overheard earlier, Kakashi wasn’t exactly surprised to see it there. A vague sense of relief came to him, and he found himself actively blinking in surprise. 

Over the course of his term, Kakashi had come to appreciate help—specifically from Shikamaru—despite holding to his lifelong tendency to take on most challenges himself; Kakashi, however, until the past few days, had never quite realized how much the aide actually  _ cared _ about him as a person. And, rather than feeling the familiar mental barriers rising around his mind, Kakashi found himself being comforted by that fact—feeling oddly grateful that there was another person who could read him.

Shikamaru made additional notes to his list, barely looking up as Kakashi rearranged papers around his desk, and only visibly broke eye contact with the paper when the double doors banged open. 

Kakashi, torn between exasperation and amusement, watched Naruto march into the room, a grin plastered across his face. 

“What’s up Kakashi-Sensei?”

Nearby, Kakashi heard Shikamaru let out a snort of laughter. Leave it to Naruto to be as informal as humanly possible. Tsunade followed the excitable ninja, brushing through the double doors before they had a chance to fully close. 

Naruto came to a halt right in front of Kakashi’s desk and stared at him, arms folded behind his head. Kakashi noted that the boy’s bright-orange jacket slightly rumpled and there was a slight wet spot up on his right shoulder, as if Naruto had been holding one of his kids—likely Himawari—only moments before. 

Kakashi didn’t feel guilty at all when his mind leapt from Naruto’s kids, to Hinata, to the idea of a family, and then, finally, to Iruka. He cleared his throat slightly, suddenly becoming aware that everyone’s eyes were fixed on him. 

“Well, I might as well cut to the chase. To answer your question, Naruto,” he said pointedly, “I will need you and Shikamaru to hold down the fort for a few days”

Kakashi watched with mild amusement as the young ninja’s face immediately became a barely-suppressed mask of shock. Tsunade harrumphed and exchanged looks with Shikamaru, a smile already turning the corners of her mouth upwards. 

Tilting his head to one side, Kakashi smiled. “Besides, it’ll be good practice for when you finally have the job.” 

Naruto huffed, puffing his cheeks slightly. 

Shikamaru shrugged, still smiling. “Well, Naruto, he’s right about that.” 

“And what will you be doing, Kakashi-Sensei?” Naruto’s blue eyes gazed at him imploringly. 

Over Naruto’s shoulder, Kakashi could see Tsunade grinning. Choosing to ignore the Godaime, he let out a breath. “Oh, I’ll just be taking a few days to travel outside the village.” Kakashi let a hint of finality slide into his voice. 

Shikamaru let out a soft chuckle, as Naruto’s jaw dropped. “You’re taking a day off?  _ You _ , Kakashi-Sensei, are taking a day off?” 

Kakashi stared at the trio rather reproachfully, “it’s not illegal for the Hokage to take a day, you know?” 

“No—it’s just—” Naruto shook his head, still grinning ear-to-ear. “It’s about damn time.” 

As the soon-to-be Hokage made his exit from the office, Kakashi breathed a slight sigh of relief. Nearby, Tsunade shook her head. 

“And to think that people were afraid for the village when I took over—” 

Kakashi laughed slightly, “well, Naruto is Naruto. I’m sure things will be interesting, but it’ll work out. He’s well loved in the village and among the rest of the Kage.” 

His memories leaped back to the chaotic mess which had been Naruto and Hinata’s wedding.  _ Very  _ well loved between the nations, indeed. 

And while it had taken time for people to warm up to Kakashi being Hokage, there would almost certainly be little resistance to Naruto. 

Shikamaru rose from his seat, pulling Kakashi from his thoughts. He watched as the aide set down the list and leaned against the table, arms folded, already back in his characteristic slouch. 

“You’re going to wreck your spine if you do that enough, kid.” Tsunade griped at Shikamaru. Kakashi had to suppress a wince as her gaze shifted to him, bored into his head. “ _ Both  _ of you.” 

Clearing his throat, Kakashi drew their attention. “I’m assuming that you’ve anticipated my departure. I do intend taking at least two members of the black ops with me— _ and  _ will join their team as a temporary third member of their unit. Having a full team present should help deflect suspicion.”

Shikamaru nodded, and, after a moment’s hesitation—Tsunade did as well. 

“You know the risks involved, Kakashi.” The Godaime looked at him, eyes softening slightly. 

“Yes, Tsunade-same.” This time, Kakashi met her gaze. “And I am prepared to take responsibility for my actions, should anything happen.” 

“With due respect,  _ brat _ , if the elders start bitching—” Tsunade’s mouth quirked slightly and she sniffed. “—I’ll flay them alive.” 

The venom in her voice was palpable. 


	3. Omen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Kakashi was seated on Iruka’s bed when the chunin Headmaster arrived, swiveled towards the window with arms limply hanging limply between his knees. Around him, the white-red Hokage robe pooled, highlighted in various shades of pink and orange in the fading light of the sun._   
>  _For some time, his eyes had been following a band of cloud cover to the West._
> 
> _When Kakashi was little, a part of him had always believed in omens. Were the clouds trying to him that he'd missed something?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaannddd here is chapter 3!!  
> I had so much fun writing this chapter :))
> 
> Another _HUGE_ thank you to my lovely beta, I couldn't have done it without their help <33  
> Note, as always, any mistakes that may come up are mine alone. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Two days later, Kakashi found himself just outside the village gates, watching the sun rise over the vast expanse of forest beyond. Perched in a tree, inhaling the crisp morning air through the Hound’s porcelain ANBU mask, Kakashi felt oddly _free_.

Years ago, the mask— _this mask_ —had become a curse, a constant reminder of his own failure. First to Obito, then Rin and to Minato-sensei. Now, it felt different, still bearing the weight of many sorrows and bloodshed, but also bringing a kind of liberation as well. 

Wary of the new feeling, Kakashi blamed it on the fact that he was using a transformation jutsu, and quickly steered his mind in a different direction, refusing to allow himself to fall into the painfully-familiar train of thought . 

Beside Kakashi, standing stock still, were Mouse and Raven—a tall, broad-shouldered brunette man and a smaller, yet powerfully built woman with dusty-blond hair. They were his ANBU guards, the extra security that he didn’t necessarily _blame_ , but certainly had grown weary of. 

The class had just passed by the gates only a few moments ago, led by Konohamaru and one of the three volunteer chunin. Kakashi’s eyes followed the figure trailing at the end, running just in front of Sai.

Humming slightly, Kakashi realized that, between himself, the two ANBU, Iruka, the three volunteers, and the two jounin, the trip was rather overdefended. _Very_ overdefended. Even with the missing nin sightings, the five active shinobi and Iruka were enough to guard the students. 

_Shit. Black ops might end up standing out more than I anticipated,_ he thought resignedly. 

Iruka was in his usual uniform, but was it Kakashi’s imagination that he looked even more beautiful than before? The early morning was sending soft warm tones across the forest, and created coppery highlights to appear in the Headmaster’s hair. The sun also helped accentuate certain… aspects of Iruka’s physique. 

Kakashi was grateful for the mask for _very_ different reasons than before. 

This time he could unashamedly stare at Iruka’s ass and not suffer the consequences. 

||

Judging by Iruka’s body language, the Headmaster had sensed the class was being pursued from the moment that Kakashi’s feet left the branches. 

Hissing a command to Raven, Kakashi watched the woman leap into the air, veering off to the side in order to be partially visible from the road. Still hidden by both a form of infiltration jutsu and the trees, Kakashi watched both Sai and Iruka’s eyes widen slightly as they saw the female ANBU come into view. 

While Sai turned back to face forward immediately, Iruka’s gaze lingered on the trees, searching the area. The man was practically a sensor, unverified, but still pretty damn good when it came identifying any kind of concealing jutsu. 

There was no way that Iruka _couldn’t_ sense more than one presence. 

Kakashi recognized the tension in the chunin Headmaster’s shoulders long after the man turned back, and couldn’t help but smile. 

Iruka certainly hadn’t lost his touch. 

||

The class was making surprisingly good time, covering a sizable distance before taking a short breather on the banks of a river. 

From where he sat in the branches of a large oak tree, Kakashi took full advantage of the break to fully appreciate how _good_ it felt to be outside of the village. Konoha was large—but after long enough inside its walls, the place tended to get a bit… _claustrophobic_. 

Here, South of the village, with the mountains casting a shadow across the distant, Western horizon and the brilliant blue sky above, Kakashi once again felt a familiar, indescribable thrill race through him. It was the same feeling which he got while on missions, a sense of connection to the wild—to the natural world around him. 

More than ever, he found that he was looking forward to the day when he could cast aside the hat, office, and duty of being Hokage, and live in freedom once more. 

After about a half hour of milling about the banks of the river, Iruka called for them to keep moving, altering course towards the East, steering them away from River territory. 

As the group began to approach the coastline, the landscape steadily began to change from climax forests, into a mix of fields and early successional habitats. 

Finally, quite a few hours after their initial departure, the world flattened out, the ground becoming increasingly sandy; both the field trip and its hidden black-ops pursuers were forced to travel on the ground. 

And so, when they finally reached the sea, the first thing that Kakashi did was hide behind a palm tree and empty his shoes of sand when they finally reached the ocean. 

||

The nearby town, small and unassuming, was just visible in the distance, the traditionally-thatched rooftops standing out against the rolling dunes and bright blue water. Already, there were three or four of the half-dozen volunteers making the trek up to the buildings, clearly scouting the area and alerting the place of residence that the party had arrived. 

Gnawing on a ration bar, safely hidden in a small group of palm trees and feeling exhaustion drag his limbs downwards, Kakashi watched the pre-genin—with their endless stores of enthusiasm and energy—set aside their gear and began some of the planned group activities. 

Kakashi knew that he should be paying attention, only a few days before, he’d fallen asleep on the papers which would, potentially, change the lives of these students forever—but he only had eyes for one person. 

And that person was standing _very_ close by, giving him a near-perfect profile view. 

An hour passed, and Kakashi was soon persuaded to swap positions with Mouse, who had been posted farther down the shoreline. 

Giving Iruka a longing look, one which the Headmaster could not see, Kakashi departed, slinking through the undergrowth without a sound. 

||

Nightfall brought a slight breeze to the small town, gently rocking the strings of red-orange lanterns which bridged the main street. From where Kakashi crouched, on a dwelling near the end of the row of vendors, the slight flickering effect of the elevated lightning was oddly hypnotic against the slowly-darkening canvas above. 

Suppressing a sigh, Kakashi’s gaze roved across the rest of the thatched rooftops. All the buildings were arranged in nearly a perfect half-circle, pressed right up to the shoreline. From his vantage point atop the far end of the village, he could see the elevated rooftop of the inn. 

About an hour ago, when the pre-genin _finally_ retreated indoors for the night, Kakashi had instructed Mouse and Raven to group up with the jounin and form a collaborative rotation. Watching the meeting from afar, Kakashi had noted that both Sai and Konohamaru were acutely aware of the ‘missing’ ANBU. 

Kakashi shifted on the thatched roof, careful not to disturb the tight bindings which held the construct together. He was oddly reminded of the straw training dummies back in Konoha; he prayed that—for the sake of whoever lived in the house below him—the bindings which held the roof together were of a better quality than the ones he’d broken during the storm. 

It wouldn’t be long before Mouse came to switch with him. The ANBU clearly knew what he was going to do, but, much to his relief and gratitude, did not question him. 

The light had just faded from the sky altogether, when Kakashi sensed the fleet-footed ANBU operative speeding across the rooftops towards him. And after trading a series of hand signs for identity confirmation, Kakashi departed from his post. 

A similar giddiness to that which he’d felt after finding the bento box, returned to him, sending thrills of warmth and lightness through his chest. If he’d been dreaming when Iruka first entered his office earlier that week, he didn’t know _where_ he was now. 

Silently, he passed Sai’s post near the center of the village, and felt the jounin’s dark, piercing eyes tracked his every move in spite of the concealment jutsu masking his presence. 

The inn Kakashi was bound for was structured like many of the traditional buildings found in the clan estates back in Konoha—distinctly box-shaped with an open garden in the center, and constructed with intricately-placed variations of woodwork. 

The building positively _towered_ above the rest of the low-bearing village. Trees and other greenery surrounded the exterior, concealing small paths lined with flowers and small statues. 

A tightness began to replace the bubbling happiness that had briefly taken over Kakashi’s mind. He was almost certain that the chunin Headmaster had guessed the reason for the ANBU’s presence, piecing together that Kakashi had accompanied the pre-genin class. After all, there were just not many reasons why the black ops would become involved with pre-genin. 

Would he be angry with Kakashi for coming? 

He took a deep breath and exhaled, struggling to push back the emotions which threatened to overcome his senses. The warmth of his breath was partially reflected back by the ANBU mask, and he bit his lip, feeling somewhat claustrophobic. 

It had felt so much easier to justify his decision to leave Konoha with the students—but, much like every encounter he’d had with Iruka over the past few days, he’d once again dove in without thinking about what to _say_. 

Even when they were dating, Kakashi hadn’t known how to express himself. Because he couldn’t; there was no _possible way_ for him to vocalize how he felt. Hell, it had taken him nearly a year to finally say a passable, “I love you,” to Iruka. 

He just hoped that, after two years of isolation, Iruka hadn’t forgotten _that_ part of Kakashi… 

Kakashi knew where he was going, he’d tracked Iruka’s movements since the students had gone to their respective rooms. Counting twelve windows right of the main doors, Kakashi swung himself lightly onto the nearest tree, eyes fixed on the room in question. 

Something was nagging in the back of his mind, and Kakashi somehow couldn’t put a finger on the problem.

Iruka’s window was cracked slightly, and the curtains left open. From where he perched on the branch, Kakashi could see the chunin Headmaster sitting at the small complimentary desk which the inn provided in each room. The man had lost the coat, and Kakashi could see a hint of blue just beneath the windowsill. Clearly, there was a table or some kind of structure just beneath the windowsill… 

_The wards_ —that was it. 

Kakashi’s brow furrowed. From what he could tell, there _were_ , in fact, traps around the chunin’s room, but for some reason, they were not activated. 

A sliver of irritation and curiosity wormed its way into his mind. 

_Why_ had Iruka left himself so vulnerable? Sure, there was a team of jounin outside, as well as three ANBU operatives, but that was no reason to leave himself unguarded. Nearly every occupied window that Kakashi had passed had their own layers of protection—so why Iruka’s? 

Throwing caution to the winds, still fighting the storm of emotions assailing his mind, Kakashi alighted on the windowsill, careful to distribute his weight forward in order not to topple off of the narrow wooden platform. 

Iruka turned, hands raised and adjusting his hair tie. The man’s brown eyes widened as Kakashi slowly hooked his gloved fingers beneath the lip of the window and slid it upwards. 

Kakashi was stunned at just how _relaxed_ the Headmaster was. 

The man could already be at his throat with a kunai, or launching at him with taijutsu—or… _something._

Kakashi’s fingers gently moved across the light screen. Pouring a little bit of his chakra into his fingers, Kakashi carefully pried the mesh away from where it sat tightly against the wood, and held it at his side as he lowered himself into the room. 

His feet noiselessly came to rest against the floorboards. 

Iruka’s eyes followed him, and after a moment, the Headmaster lowered his hands to his sides.

Kakashi sighed softly and let the screen gently fall against the wall behind him, the metal corners knocking lightly against the floor. The concealing jutsu, the one which he and the ANBU had been using, only worked across medium to long distances. 

Iruka could see him now, at least the transformation—the _Hound_. 

The chunin Headmaster tilted his head to one side and studied him quietly without a word. A slow smile was spreading across his face, causing small crinkles to appear at the corners of his eyes. They were new, Kakashi noted, but somehow only accentuated how _beautiful_ Umino Iruka really was. 

Now that he was getting a full view of the man, Kakashi felt as though he had been dragged back _years_ , back to the moments when he and Iruka had just begun dating. For long after, they’d looked back at those years with both embarrassment and humor, laughing at how awkward they’d been around one another—at how stupid they’d been for not just simply sitting down and talking things over like normal people would. 

Kakashi felt the same thrill, the same butterflies dancing in the pit of his stomach as when he’d first fallen in love. Iruka’s white undershirt, still tucked neatly within the waistband of his khaki pants, was unbuttoned down past his collarbones. The shirt shifted slightly on the man’s shoulders as Iruka moved, hands coming to his hips. 

Iruka cocked an eyebrow at Kakashi, who was still just _standing_ there. 

There was little to no way that Iruka _didn’t_ know who the Hound was. Over the years, enough stories and tales of the ‘cold-blooded Kakashi’ had circulated enough to make Kakashi’s _former_ alter-ego somewhat of an open secret. Besides, there weren’t too many shinobi with silver hair, and that was almost a dead giveaway in itself. 

Iruka broke the silence first, shaking his head slightly. “Well, you certainly haven’t changed.” 

The way he said it made Kakashi melt inside. Ever so slowly, Kakashi began to relax. His eyes flicked to the window. 

Catching onto his train of thought, Iruka clicked his tongue and moved the window, weaving a series of rather complicated hand signs as he walked. Kakashi felt the achingly familiar hum of the man’s chakra moving through the air before the traps armed themselves. A subtle, yet powerful barrier followed soon after. 

Iruka drew the curtains and turned around approaching him slowly. 

Kakashi’s eyes widened behind the mask, and he found himself backing up a step.

Sense came to him only _after_ the chunin Headmaster cleared his throat sofly. 

Panic fluttering in his chest, Kakashi released the jutsu. His Hokage robe unfurled, billowing slightly before coming to rest. Cringing internally, he put on his best smile and rubbed the back of his neck. 

He was _more_ than late to the conversation. “Maa—is not changing a bad thing?” 

Kakashi found himself reddening as his tratorious voice lumped a whole lot more than just the simple question into his tone. 

Iruka made a slightly strangled sound and reddened. 

Rather than reply immediately, the man stared at him, eyes tracing from Kakashi’s feet and slowly making their way up to his chest. What had been a slight pink hue to Iruka’s cheeks soon blossomed into a full-on blush. 

“I… had a feeling it was you,” Iruka seemed to grapple for words. “I couldn’t be sure, but I could only hope—it’s why I left the wards down for so long...” The man’s voice trailed off.

Kakashi felt a deep sense of yearning enter the pit of his stomach. He could hear the same feeling reflected in the Headmaster’s voice. Swallowing, Kakashi shut his eyes, locking iron bars around the emotion. 

_Wait._ he told himself. _Wait now and you won’t make a mistake of things—if you assume… then it could be over._

It wasn’t just _him_ , though, he reasoned. After years of silence, the looks, the longing, the worry… An image of the small bento and tea, sitting peacefully on the bench, came to Kakashi’s mind. 

Had he read the signs wrong? Somehow, in the swirling storm of emotions, the doubt began to take root in his mind..

“Maa, Sensei,” Iruka’s large, brown eyes rose to meet Kakashi’s as the latter tried and failed to put on his usual drawl. “I have to know—” 

He swallowed. 

“Is… this… are you sure?” 

Iruka knew the risks, he knew what was at stake, and Kakashi had already told him everything else. There was no mistaking the fact that they were _both_ breaking regulation just by being in the same room together, himself for having initiated the meeting and Iruka for having allowed it. 

Kakashi knew Umino Iruka. If the man wanted him out, there would be no hesitation in the matter—he would be gone. 

A fire seemed to burn in the depths of the chunin Headmaster’s eyes. Somehow, the look instilled a thrill of fear in Kakashi’s mind, and he had to work not to visibly flinch as a hand shot out and gripped him by the collar, pulling him closer. 

Kakashi braced himself, feeling his heart accelerate uncontrollably, racing as Iruka’s body pressed against his own, knuckles grating somewhat painfully against his right collarbone where the man gripped his uniform. Iruka’s breath was hot against his exposed skin, and Kakashi felt a flush creeping up into his face. 

“You’re a lucky bastard, Hatake Kakashi, that I _didn’t_ turn your ass right back out the door for pulling a stunt like that—”

Iruka shoved Kakashi away lightly. “Days of overwork and you choose a fucking _field trip_ to finally make a move? We could be inside the village right now and I’d _still_ be pissed at you for pulling those extra hours—”

“I—” Kakashi tried, but once again found that words failed him. 

Now that Iruka had finally broken the silence, Kakashi realized that the chunin Headmaster hadn’t thrown him out, or physically attacked—or _any_ of the worst nightmare scenarios that he’d had managed to cook up inside his head. 

Kakashi felt a wave of exhaustion finally overwhelm the adrenaline which had kept him going for the past day. 

It must’ve shown in his face, because not a moment later, the chunin Headmaster gave a dramatic sigh. Shaking his head, Iruka’s expression slowly softened into something between a frown and an exasperated smile. 

“Kakashi, sit down for god’s sake—you look dead on your feet.” 

“Hmmph,” he replied, vision tunneling slightly. Kakashi could no longer decide what it was which was slowly draining away his energy—the Headmaster’s presence, or—

“Maa—Sensei, I’m...” Kakashi began, but his voice trailed off.

 _When did Iruka get so close?_

Kakashi’s eyes widened as felt soft fingers brush against his face, working their way around the hem of the mask. 

He looked down at Iruka, noting the quiet concentration in the man’s expression. As if by its own accord, he found a hand rising, and gently cupped Iruka’s cheek, feeling warmth blossom in his chest as the Headmaster closed his eyes and leaned into the touch. 

“I missed you,” Kakashi whispered, eyes crinkling. 

Whatever gentleness Iruka had placed in the act of removing the mask was soon abandoned as the Headmaster yanked the fabric down the rest of the way and kissed Kakashi full on the lips, arms circling around his neck and shoulders, pulling him closer. 

Kakashi found his hands coming to embrace Iruka’s body, fingers moving across firm muscle. 

Heart pounding, Kakashi felt himself being pressed into the wall, the Headmaster’s body pressed against his own, holding him there. 

Iruka’s fingers fumbled about the clasp of the Hokage robe, and the flowing garb fluttered to the ground. Now that he was only in his dark flak jacket and uniform, Kakashi let out a low growl as Iruka half-pulled them both down onto the bed. 

The bed, however, seemed to disapprove of having two grown men fall onto it, and gave a rather alarming squeak. 

Both freezing on the spot, Kakashi stared up at Iruka with wide eyes. 

Kakashi hummed after a moment, running a thumb across the chunin Headmaster’s exposed collarbone. 

“Maa—these walls seem quite thin. Cuddles only, I suppose.”

Iruka wrinkled his nose. 

||

Moonlight filtered through the thin curtains, and Kakashi watched its bluish-white touch flicker slightly, dancing against the wall, table, and floorboards as the tree just outside the window waved lazily in the breeze. 

Kakashi’s eyes followed the shadows from where he lay on his side, encircled by Iruka’s arms, the man’s forehead pressed into the space between his shoulders. An odd, unexplainable lightness had taken over his body, filling him with a deep sense of contentment. He couldn’t quite put a finger on the feeling. 

Whatever it was though, was _powerful_ , and Kakashi couldn’t stop a soft smile from ghosting his lips. 

Exhaling softly, Kakashi looked over at Iruka, feeling the man’s arms tighten slightly around him as he moved. Iruka moved slightly, and Kakashi was worried that he might’ve awakened the man, but Iruka’s breathing soon evened out, and his arms once more became limp in sleep. 

A strange train of thought entered Kakashi’s mind. Since taking office, he hadn’t been able to train much—as expected; while he’d made an effort to be active in the six years he’d still been with Iruka, their separation had caused him to all but abandon the occasional training sessions. His routine had become pretty minimal, just enough to keep him sharp. But with the increased workload as of late, and Naruto’s impending takeover… 

He couldn’t help but feel a little self conscious.

Kakashi was far from out of shape, hell, he was still in _great_ shape for his age—but he no longer possessed the lean build he’d had the last time he and Iruka shared a bed. The formerly-hard lines which had defined each muscle had smoothed slightly, a softness which had worn away at the sharp edges over time. 

Either way, Kakashi couldn’t help but think that he’d been away from the hard physicality of battle for too long—or was that the nerves talking? 

Kakashi’s mind reeled as the realization hit him that he was actually _nervous_ about how the chunin Headmaster would see him now. He was different, changed slightly, but… 

The arms around his midsection squeezed slightly, and Kakashi momentarily felt his anxiety double. A hand crept up onto his arm, and he allowed himself to be gently rolled over. Tired brown eyes stared into Kakashi’s gray ones, glittering slightly in the light of the moon. 

Kakashi found himself so lost in his own nerves, that he almost jumped when he felt Iruka’s fingers brushing against his cheek, catching slightly on a patch of stubble which, apparently, Kakashi had missed the previous night. 

A smile played about Iruka’s sleepy expression as he explored Kakashi’s face. Finally, a finger poked just past the corner of his eye where a small set of crow’s feet had set in. Iruka tapped the spot lightly. 

Kakashi closed his eyes. 

He let out a long breath, the shakiness betraying the emotions he held at bay. 

Slowly, he rolled the rest of the way over, and narrowly avoided poking himself in the eye with Iruka’s finger as he leaned in to kiss the Headmaster on the cheek. Kakashi only moved away when he felt a small drop of moisture against his nose. 

“I missed you—so much—you know that?” Iruka turned his head and buried the watering eye in the pillow, awkwardly scrubbing it before looking back. 

Kakashi snaked an arm around the chunin and squeezed slightly in response, moving so now it was him snuggling into Iruka. 

When Iruka next spoke, his voice was tight. “I shouldn’t have doubted you earlier. It wasn’t fair for me to question _why_ you’re stepping down. I knew that Naruto’s time was coming years ago, it was just… surprising that it would be here so soon.” 

He took a deep breath. 

“I’m sorry. I was playing to my fears, I guess. I don’t want our relationship to bleed into our professional lives like that, we each have our careers and… well people are depending on both of us.” Iruka’s voice was muffled slightly as he brought a hand to his face in a gesture usually reserved for regret. 

“I just couldn’t… accept it if the only reason why you were backing down was me, just like I couldn’t accept myself to refuse the promotion when I felt I was the only one that could take it...” 

Kakashi hummed softly and ran a hand though Iruka’s hair, feeling thick, silky strands between his fingers. 

“No, Iruka, you were right to ask—to question my judgment. It was a valid, _real_ concern.” He let a playful spark enter his gaze. “Besides, you keep me on my toes that way.” 

With a slight huff, Kakashi propped himself up on his elbows, feeling the sheets slide down his chest. Iruka stared at the sheet, then Kakashi’s bare chest, seemingly unwilling to meet his eyes. 

“I have my duty to the village, to these people—their lives will always be my first priority, even above my own,” Kakashi said softly. “There’s nothing to apologize for.” 

He smiled, and Iruka’s brown eyes came up to meet his own. 

Instead of replying, the chunin moved closer. Kakashi wrapped his arms around Iruka, and reseted his face in the man’s hair. Gently, he rubbed circles into the other man’s shoulders, and soon the tension began to ease beneath his fingers. 

For a while, both of them lay in silence, enjoying one another’s presence. And then Iruka spoke up again, voice slightly muffled. 

“You know how many times I almost lost face during those damn board meetings?” There was humor playing about the man’s voice. 

Kakashi let out a short laugh and shook his head. “To be honest, if you'd done something—anything—during those meetings, it would have been so difficult for me to hold myself back.”

He could feel Iruka’s laughter against him, and Kakashi let a soft chuckle leave his lips. Moments later, however, Kakashi sensed the light die from Iruka’s face, to be replaced by… regret? 

The Headmaster heaved a sigh,“I wish we could have this—” Iruka gestured at them, lying there in one another’s arms. 

A dry smile appeared on Kakashi’s face and a trace of bitterness bleed into his voice, “maa—the village would have my head for insubordination, manipulation, and more scandalous drama stories than I could count if they caught us.” 

Iruka remained silent. 

Kakashi’s voice lowered ever so slightly. “And you would likely have lost your career.” 

The silence deepened. 

“But… all this hiding and… _everything_ ,” Kakashi gestured with his hand. “It’s only for a little longer… well, if you still…” His chest felt slightly constricted as his tired brain ran through the implications. 

To even think that Iruka might say no, to reject him and save face—along with the whole host of reasons that he _should_ … it was too much. The chunin Headmaster was the kind of person to make those choices, to choose what was best for both of them, even when it was the more painful path to follow. 

Iruka shifted away from him, looking mildly exasperated. “Kakashi Hatake, _really_?”

Blinking, Kakashi looked at the chunin in surprise. There was a hint of Iruka’s fiery temper there, reflected back at him. 

Kakashi looked from the arm holding him, to the pillow, and then back to Iruka, brow furrowing. 

Iruka let out a dramatic sigh and punched Kakashi in the shoulder, his knuckles rapping hard against muscle. Wrinkling his nose, Iruka shook his head, and pulled Kakashi closer, pressing his cheek into the man’s skin. 

For a moment, both of them were still, and then Iruka whispered into Kakashi’s shirt, words nearly too soft to hear. 

“Stupid Bakashi—you think that I waited all these years only to run away when things got difficult? We survived the war. You _died_ and I waited for you—and I would’ve waited for you even if you didn’t come back—”

There was emotion in Iruka’s voice, and when the brown eyes finally rose to meet his, Kakashi found that he didn’t need to voice his own feelings. 

Iruka knew Kakashi would do the same—in a heartbeat. And without a second thought. 

He voiced it nonetheless, and watched tears prick behind the other man’s eyes. 

They both fell into silence again. This time, neither of them spoke. 

It was only when Iruka reached up and began to massage his scalp, that Kakashi finally realized how _tired_ he was in full force. 

As the darkness of sleep rose to greet him, Kakashi felt the soft brush of Iruka’s lips against his cheek. 

* * *

It was just before dawn when Kakashi felt Iruka awaken, moving with deliberate slowness and clearly attempting to gently disentangle himself without disturbing the bed very much.

As the heat began to fade from where Iruka’s arm had rested across his chest, Kakashi groaned dramatically, and blindly reached out, seeking to renew contact as the other man exited the bed. Iruka caught his hand, and kissed it, his lips brushing against Kakashi’s skin. 

Iruka was an early riser, and for weeks after they’d separated, Kakashi had always found himself awakening at the same early hour, ready to give the man a good morning kiss in a state of semi-consciousness. And now that Kakashi could _feel_ that warmth again, and sense the man’s soothing presence—he didn’t want to let go. 

The sliding door to the restroom hissed slightly as Iruka made his way inside, gently shutting the mesh folds behind him with a soft _click_. A warm light flicked on, filling the bedroom with a slight, warm glow. 

Kakashi stared for a moment, and then slowly swung himself from the bed. His stomach twisted a bit, forming the telltale half-hungry, half-queasy feeling which early mornings always gave him. 

He rose, hesitated for a moment, and then followed Iruka inside. 

The man was already veiled behind steam, seated just inside the small, wooden shower and bath area. Kakashi blearily stripped, and sneaked up behind the chunin Headmaster. 

Iruka hummed softly as Kakashi’s arms wrapped about him. 

For a moment, Kakashi felt only warm bliss, and then, out of nowhere, found a channel of blazing hot water directed right into his face. An offended gurgling sound escaping him, Kakashi glared at the devilish expression on the chunin’s face, only breaking into laughter once Iruka collapsed out of mirth. 

_Well, Iruka certainly hasn’t changed either,_ Kakashi decided. 

||

The first real problem that Kakashi encountered was standing about twenty feet above him when he finally departed from Iruka’s room. 

Feeling refreshed, and once more concealed beneath both the Hound’s porcelain mask and a concealing jutsu, Kakashi had just finished closing the window, when he registered the jounin’s eyes on him. 

As a former-ROOT member, Sai was quite adept at sensing chakra-concealment. It was one of the reasons why Kakashi had chosen him for this mission. Kakashi had also, for obvious reasons, neglected to tell either Sai or Konohamaru of his presence—which automatically made his current actions highly suspicious. 

Dropping down from the windowsill, Kakashi landed on the grass and backed up a few paces in order to have a direct line of sight with Sai. In many respects, he was grateful that it was, indeed, _Sai_ who had discovered him; the was a point only reinforced when Kakashi dropped the concealment jutsu and gave the jounin a lazy salute, smiling behind the Hound’s mask at the somewhat slack-jawed expression that briefly flashed across the stoic shinobi’s face. 

There was no question that the jounin knew _exactly_ who he was beneath the mask. 

||

For the rest of the morning, Kakashi stood watch as Mouse and Raven slept, both of whom had taken night shifts while he stayed with Iruka. They were in the forest just outside the village limits, still with a clear vantage of the inn, but far enough away from traffic to not require concealment. 

Towards noon, Kakashi roused his ‘squadmates’ as Konohamaru, Iruka, and the rest of the chunin volunteers herding the pre-Genin back towards the shore to resume the team building activities.

Kakashi spent the rest of the day _actually_ watching the pre-genin, and paying attention to their teamwork and potential groupings. It struck him as odd that his focus was as sharp as it was, and his mind clear, but pinned it on the chunin Headmaster’s presence, despite the fact that—for _so long_ , Iruka had proved nothing but a source of internal conflict. 

The three pre-genin who had melted the statue were in attendance, and, much to Kakashi’s amusement, were creating quite a ruckus. All three volunteering chunin were constantly on deck, trying to keep the trio out of trouble. 

Kakashi wondered how the pre-genin would react if he revealed himself. Would they be scared? 

He watched as the trio silently, noting that they were playing the “Extreme Shinobi Picture Scrolls” card game. Chuckling to himself beneath the mask, Kakashi remembered with amusement, a few of the more adventurous kids who had actually managed to sneak up to his office looking for an autograph on his card.

Now, one of the pre-genin was waving a shiny, silver-plated card above their head, proudly announcing the newest card to the friends seated across the sand nearby. 

“It’s Rokudaime’s S.S.R. card! Pulled it yesterday!” 

Iruka looked back at the small group from where he was taking notes on the current students doing the obstacle course, and shook his head slightly. The sunlight was intense enough to partially-impede Kakashi’s view, but he could’ve _sworn_ that the chunin Headmaster’s eyes momentarily flicked in his direction, before returning to his work. 

The other kids’ pleas for possible card trades echoed through the air, begging for a chance to get their hands on the card. 

Kakashi shook his head in wonder. 

||

All too soon, Kakashi was forced to rotate again; this time, he was bound for the _farthest_ post from the students, and for the rest of the afternoon. Raven, who’d been stationed near the inn, bowed her head in greeting before disappearing. 

Kakashi took one look at the inn, and then the row of buildings nearby, the main business street of the town. If he was on sentry duty, might as well find out more, he reasoned. The kids, after all, were all out on the water, with a small army of ninja guarding them. 

He would, therefore, be much better suited, scouting.

Kakashi ducked behind a set of large bushes and transformed again, slipping into his rather useful alter-ego of Sukea, the freelance photographer. As soon as the faint puffs of smoke—fallout from the jutsu—cleared, he suppressed a groan. 

The chakra drain was a little bit more impactful this time, and Kakashi felt it dip into his strength. He desperately wished that he could stop the transformations even for a little while. Sleeping a full night had helped his energy immensely, but that didn’t change the fact that he’d severely overworked his body for days beforehand.

The street was rather busy when Kakashi made his way out of the shadows, pulling Sukea’s gray-brown scarf tighter about himself as he walked. 

Merchants were selling their wares, calling out to the pedestrians which milled about, crowding around stalls here and there, and browsing through shops. Hands in his pockets, Kakashi ambled down the right hand side, eyes following the brightly-colored array of goods on sale. 

Despite his relaxed appearance, he was on high alert. Oftentimes, places such as this were key places to gather intel in general. And—especially when there were students involved—one could never be _too_ careful. 

He’d just made his way past an open-air bar and restaurant, when Kakashi finally heard one of the key words he’d been listening for. 

“—gue shinobi—” 

Chills ran down his spine. 

Carefully, Kakashi slowed, and came to a stop outside the bar’s entrance, waving down an attendant. He ordered a small beer, a light brew that wouldn’t be too jarring, but still inconspicuous enough not to raise questions. 

The bartender placed the glass in front of Kakashi. After a couple seconds, Kakashi slid the ryo towards the man and thanked him. 

Two men, both clearly travelling merchants, were seated at the far side of the bar. Both sported rather ostentatious outfits, but the cloth was also slightly worn—a fact which somehow exacerbated their exhausted faces and flushed cheeks. 

“Goddamn shinobi,” the closer of the two grouced to the other, taking a swig of beer. “Couldn’t make my usual stop because I heard the road was being watched. But I ran into Eiji this morning and the guy was fine.” 

“—The hell?” The other merchant shook his head. “Not after the silks, huh?” 

“Hmph, I guess not.” 

Soon after, the pair got up and left, leaving Kakashi to his own thoughts. 

_Silks, huh?_ He let his eyes fall to the bar, and gently tapped the sturdy glass with his fingers. _That’s towards the Land of Rivers. Every year, they come from the West…_

His eyes narrowed. 

For the next few hours, Kakashi walked the streets covertly, leaving at times in order to pass on his findings to the other ANBU—mostly Mouse, who was stationed at the halfway point. 

After hearing the news from the merchants, Kakashi had become far more aware of the tension that hung in the air—a slight rigidness characterized in the merchants’ shoulders and posture, and the way their eyes flicked from person-to-person, possibly seeking or watching out for a certain hite-ate. 

Towards dinnertime, Kakashi finally summoned Pakkun, and had the ninken run a message to Mouse, instructing the ANBU to send one of the jounin on a casual walk down the main road. 

Kakashi had his eyes on a slightly heavyset and bearded, older man with an expressive face and kind eyes. Stationed near at the head of the line of shops, the merchant worked tirelessly to sell a wide array of tropical fruits and vegetables. 

But that was not why Kakashi had chosen him to test his theory. Unlike the other merchants, this certain man was far less adept to hiding his agitation, and visibly projected his feelings through a combination of expressions and body language. 

Kakashi was fully prepared to take advantage of that fact. 

When Konohamaru entered the street, the jounin’s metal forehead protector glinting in the sunlight—undecipherable as he walked into the sun’s glare—Kakashi watched the man’s eyes widen and his face drain slightly of color. The hands which worked to sort change in the small register, began to fumble and shake. 

The man did not stare, but rather averted his eyes, occasionally shooting glances at the approaching shinobi. It was only _after_ Konohamaru’s hitai-ate was made visible in a shadow one of the hanging lanterns, that Kakashi saw some of the tension depart from the merchant’s person. 

To others, the reaction might not have told them anything. 

For Kakashi, however, the fear directed Konohamaru spoke volumes. Or rather, fear directed at a ninja whose allegiance was _undetermined_. 

Exhaling slightly, Kakashi continued his investigation with rising paranoia. 

Deep in the pit of his stomach, anxiety began to curl. He didn’t like the rumors one bit. And, despite telling himself that he was being silly—he had a _bad_ feeling that things were about to take a rather dark turn...

||

Twilight had just spread its colors across the sky when Kakashi finally made his move. He’d waited until the main stalls closed for the night, and followed the flow of traffic into the bars and restaurants. 

Kakashi steered himself back to the same open-air bar that he’d visited earlier, noting it to be the most popular on the street. 

Upon entry, Kakashi realized that the stress level had climbed more than several notches over the past few hours. Instantly, Kakashi’s ears had filled with whispers of nin on the eastern road.

It was ominous, and by the sounds of it, there were a great many missing nin in question. A woman near the counter had mentioned seeing eight, while a man claimed that there was “a small army.” 

And, judging by the landmarks and various distances that Kakashi had overheard, the nin sightings were drawing closer. 

Just hearing it was enough to push Kakashi well out of his comfort zone. As both the Hokage _and_ his undercover persona, he was responsible for _everyone’s_ safety. 

_Iruka’s safety._

The first thing he did after extracting himself from the bar was summon Mouse and Raven. Next—he sent Pakkun to Iruka, telling the Headmaster to reserve a conference room and have himself and the two jounin there in an hour.

Rather than return to Iruka’s room _himself_ , as he so longed to do, Kakashi slipped back into the mindset of the warrior and soldier—of the Hound—and made for the outskirts, hiding just inside the treeline. 

Raven and Mouse were already there, waiting for him. Both special ops members tensed upon arrival, sensing his change in mood. Their nervousness only compounded the existing anxieties he’d sensed earlier in them. 

Turning, eyes moving between the two ANBU, Kakashi felt coldness bleed into his voice as he spoke. 

“As you both are aware, I’ve been listening to the hearsay of the village, and that is not always reliable. But when nearly all of the merchants who have come East have sighted missing nin, we have a problem.”

Both ANBU nodded.

“As of this moment, forward, I am officially reassigning both of you.” Kakashi’s expression hardened, and he turned to the male ANBU standing nearby. 

Kakashi’s mind was moving back to Iruka, picturing the man’s smile, and warm presence. He was tempted to assign Mouse to protect the Headmaster, to make sure that he would be okay—

He shoved back the emotions. 

“Mouse, you will assist the jounin on duty in protecting the students. No matter what happens, they will be your first priority. The pre-genin are the future, and it’s _my_ job to keep them safe. I will be addressing them shortly to alert them of the change in plans.”

The ANBU in question fidgeted slightly, a small movement of discomfort that Kakashi noticed only because of how still everything had become around them. Nearby, Raven seemed to be holding her breath. Even the wind seemed to have stopped, as if, for one moment, the entire world around them was silently waiting— _begging_ —for Mouse to contradict his abrupt change of directive, to remind the Hokage that the _only reason_ why ANBU had come was for the safety of Konoha’s leader. 

Neither of the ANBU moved. 

Kakashi narrowed his eyes slightly behind the porcelain mask, and nodded. 

_Good._

His eyes fell on Raven. 

“Raven, you will have a different job. According to your file, you specialize in speed and reconnaissance. Once you have the cover of darkness, you and Sai are to follow the merchant’s Western trade route until you have eyes on the missing nin. Send word with one of Sai’s birds once you have contact. We need rank, numbers, and most importantly _directive_.”

He paused. 

“Should you see fit, send word back to Konoha, but no matter what, you must _not_ allow yourselves to be tracked back here. If need be, circle back, and set up post on the Eastern road. With your word, or if anything changes, we will be moving out in that direction.” 

Raven stood a little taller. “Yes, Hound-san.” 

He nodded. “Rest until sundown. I will have Mouse fill you in. Also—you’re leading.” 

||

Informing Iruka and the jounin went rather smoothly, despite the grave atmosphere of the room. 

Both Sai and Konohamaru were serious, their faces growing increasingly solemn as Kakshi revealed greater details about his discovery. 

And while Sai stood still, clearly aware that he was in the presence of a Kage, and nodding Konohamaru did not—and Kakashi found it rather amusing when the latter stared at Sai for a moment after the ex-ROOT shinobi referred to Kakashi as “Hound-sama.” 

Iruka, however, was a different story. From the moment that Kakashi mentioned that they could possibly run into rogue nin, the Headmaster’s expression had visibly tightened, before going completely blank. 

They decided on one hour. Sixty minutes to decide how much longer they should stay at the inn—or rather, sixty minutes for _Kakashi_ to decide their fate. 

Exhaustion creeping back into every bone in his body, Kakashi couldn’t help but desperately wish for a chance to even sit down. Adrenaline had been fueling his every move, but it seemed that he was running out of energy once more. Transformations were not _that_ tiring, especially if they were short term. But not only was he holding to his ANBU disguise, but had also concealed himself for much of the day with jutsu. 

The meeting ended in an uneasy silence and an unspoken promise to alert one another should they hear anything. Konohamaru volunteered to scout the village for more evidence, but Kakashi told him to save his strength. 

||

Kakashi was seated on Iruka’s bed when the chunin Headmaster arrived, swiveled towards the window with arms limply hanging limply between his knees. Around him, the white-red Hokage robe pooled, highlighted in various shades of pink and orange in the fading light of the sun. 

For some time, his eyes had been following a band of cloud cover to the West. When Kakashi was little, a part of him had always believed in omens. Were the clouds telling him something he’d missed? 

There were missing nin out there, and greater numbers than he’d thought possible. A mystery. 

His father had always believed in omens. 

Before he flicked the light on, Iruka drew the curtains on the window and rechecked the wards and barriers around the room. The movement was enough to pull Kakashi from his stupor. 

Heaving a sigh, the Headmaster shed his jacket and plopped down next to Kakashi. After a moment, the man spoke, concerned. 

“Are you alright?” 

Kakashi took a deep breath, shrugged, and stared at the chunin. “I just sent Ūhei to get a message back to Konoha and Guruko to go find the nearest jounin team. Bisuke is following Sai and Raven.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“I don’t know…” Kakashi breathed slowly. “To tell the truth, sensei, I have no idea if I’m alright.” 

He was tired— _exhausted_. 

Iruka’s hand rubbed circles between his shoulder blades in a soothing gesture. “You should rest while you can, Kakashi-san.” 

Kakashi’s eyes rested on the chunin. “Iruka… there’s something that doesn’t add up with these rogue nin…” 

He stared into the brown eyes as if searching for answers. “How could I not have known? How did we miss this? From what I gathered, we’re not looking at one or two nin. This is a team, most likely a _coordinated_ group of killers.”

Iruka hummed and leaned into Kakashi, the man’s breath warm against his shoulder. “I don’t know. It’s just as possible that they were just there, lying in wait for a target to appear, as for them to have orchestrated a grand plot of some kind.”

For a time, both of them were silent, thinking. 

A part of Kakashi vaguely registered that it was odd how _open_ he was now towards the sensei, as if all it had taken for them both to get used to one another again was a few hours… 

_And missing nin,_ his mind supplemented. 

Then Kakashi shook his head tiredly, “we won’t know until Raven and Sai return.” He leaned into Iruka’s touch. “I’m assuming that you have the students on alert?” 

Now it was Iruka’s turn to sigh. “I do... most of them have all but the essentials sealed in scrolls. The volunteers also have been notified of the present situation.” The chunin hesitated. “But morale is at an all-time low. I guess that you’re not too keen to reveal yourself within the town, are you? They would certainly find your presence reassuring… But I doubt your reasons are not because of regulations anymore.” 

Kakashi let out a soft bark of laughter. “No, they’re not. You’re right, Sensei, I could care less about regulations and rules when there are potential lives at stake. If things go down as I fear they will, my identity must wait until the right time.”

Iruka’s head drooped. “Of course.” He murmured. “Because if the nin are coming here, they’ll likely catch wind of your presence in the village.” 

“My guess is that they’ve had eyes here for some time now,” Kakashi said softly. “it would make sense. What confuses me is that they’re not exactly being subtle about their approach. They somehow managed to stay clear of our radar, and yet now there are sightings left and right. It’s like they’re baiting us, trying to scare the pre-genin and divide us. But as to their actual target…” 

Iruka’s expression darkened. “You think it’s the pre-genin. My students.” 

Kakashi nodded. “You know as well as I do that they’re the logical source of attention.” 

A wave of anger passed across Iruka’s face, fire blazing in his eyes, before a look of hesitation and regret replaced it. “We need to get them out of here, Kakashi—and quickly. Staying in the village would not only box us in, but also put the villagers at risk—but...” The Headmaster scrubbed his face, exasperated. 

“I’m torn.” 

Iruka’s admission had a touch of venom. “Everyone is tired right now, Kakashi. I know it’s not an excuse when we’re in danger, but if we leave now that’s almost a day’s worth of travel to get us home—and that was using the _Western_ road. The way that we’d be headed will take us much longer.” 

Kakashi groaned and fell back onto the bed, sprawled out across the light blankets. “Maa—My hope was to wait until Sai and Raven returned—” 

There came a knock on the door, and both shinobi jumped to attention as the door cracked open to reveal Konohamaru, looking rather haggard. 

For a moment, there was nothing but silence, and Kakashi became aware that he was most definitely _not_ ‘the Hound.’ Konohamaru’s eyes were wide, the blue of his scarf reflected in his gaze as he took in Kakashi’s presence. 

Iruka cleared his throat and the jounin immediately seemed to snap back to reality, visibly shaking his head. 

Kakashi offered Konohamaru a smile. 

“Iruka-san, Hok—Hound-san,” the jounin bowed his head. 

Kakashi felt a sweeping sense of gratitude towards the Sarutobi ninja. The door was cracked open and anyone could’ve been listening, and Konohamaru had not allowed himself to be too shaken. 

The young jounin’s face fell, becoming serious. “Please excuse me for the intrusion, but there’s been a development outside, and—well, it might be better to see it.” Konohamaru’s brow furrowed before his eyes flicked up to Kakashi. 

Kakashi and Iruka exchanged a look, and quickly left the bed. As Iruka retrieved his jacket, Kakashi nodded to the other two. “You go ahead, I’ll meet you there.” 

The moment the door closed, Kakashi focused his chakra into the transformation, and once more donned the mask of the Hound. 

Even as Kakashi made the jump from the ground to the rooftop, unwilling to expend chakra on a teleportation jutsu, he felt a dead weight enter the pit of his stomach. 

Kakashi slowly let his breath out silently between his teeth as he alighted on the peak of the inn’s rooftop. Beside him, Iruka was standing stock-still, shoulders slightly slouched in a subtle expression of hopelessness. 

There was still color in the sky directly above the village, faint blemishes of light purple and blue tones, complimenting the bright patches of stars. But all sense of calm tranquility halted mid-way through the sky where ominous, rolling clouds stretched across the landscape, flat and low to the ground. 

Turning, Kakashi allowed his gaze to move across the horizon, tracing from the point where the deep blue ocean touched the pale dunes—inland. Right where the water and land connected, the storm billowed forth, forming a large ring about the village, spanning leagues, and blocking out visual range beyond. 

Great lengths of hanging streams of low-bearing cloud scraped across the landscape like the gnarled talons of some terrifying predator. Kakashi made out an eerie blueish tint emanating from within the heart of the clouds, glowing slightly against the night sky. 

But what really brought out the strange, terrifying nature of the formation around them, was the distant shriek of lightning—where no sound _should_ exist. It was like a scream, a shrill cacophony not unlike that of Kakashi’s chidori.

Each flash split the night, a dazzling, terrible electric blue. To Kakashi, it was strangely beautiful, but haunting in every way.

There was no thunder, no rumble or roar, to follow the unnatural prelude which split the night.

Worry sat in the pit of Kakashi’s stomach like a rock. 

Worry for the ninken he’d sent out into that hellscape along with the other shinobi operatives, all of whom were likely stranded in its midst. 

Worry for the pre-genin who would face their first battle in a matter of hours. 

And worry for the safety of the man who stood beside him, staring into the night. 

Against all odds, Kakashi felt a humorless laugh bubble up inside him. Maybe he _should_ start believing in omens. 

Beside him, Iruka’s face was slightly illuminated from the light of the clouds, the near-constant lightning flickering of lightning, dancing in his eyes. 

Kakashi memorized the Headmaster’s face, taking in the gentle, yet defined jawline, the scar bisecting the man’s face, and the subtle details of Iruka’s person which he had grown to care and love. 

At that moment, Kakashi didn’t give a damn about appearances. Reaching out, he rested a gloved hand on the Headmaster’s shoulder. 

The man shifted and let out a breath. 

Moments later, Kakashi felt Iruka’s fingers lace between his own and give a slight squeeze.


	4. Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The attack begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! 
> 
> A quick note that there is graphic violence and swearing in this chapter (and the next)! 
> 
> Hope you enjoy <33

The pre-genin were oddly subdued, huddled together as they moved through the terrain, speeding across the sand dunes and between the occasional palm groves. Surrounding them on all sides, holding a tight formation, were the konoha forces: Konohamaru, Mouse, Iruka, and Kakashi, and the chunin.

Before them, the storm loomed like some ghastly creature from the depths of hell, its smokey tendrils reaching downwards, glowing eerily in the night as lightning danced in its depths. Kakashi knew it had to be a bloodline limit—some disturbingly-powerful combination of water and lightning jutsu. There was no other explanation for the severity and power of the jutsu otherwise. And besides, it was _massive_. 

Kakashi could feel the wind against his face rapidly cooling as the temperature dropped with their approach. Nearby trees whipped back and forth, their branches creaking and snapping in the wind.

Before him, the genin had slowly drawn closer to one another. Kakashi could feel their dread from the back from the back of the formation, a contagious fear which bled from their hushed voices and body language, and spread to the surrounding shinobi. The volunteer chunin could feel it too, he noted. Many of them kept checking and rechecking the placement of their weapons. 

Kakashi steeled himself, and fought the anxieties which threatened to make their way into his mind. He was the Hokage, the leader of the village, and he couldn’t afford to be distracted. 

He took comfort in Iruka’s stoicism beside him, and the silent, ever-serious presence of Mouse. 

The treeline and innermost ring of cloud cover loomed above them, appearing like a collective wall of shadow against a darkened skyline. Nodding for Mouse to temporarily take his position at the back, Kakashi used a quick body-flicker jutsu, and reappeared beside Konohamaru at the head of the line. 

Kakashi sensed the moment that they passed beneath the true shadow of the storm just as they entered the forest. High above, darkness crept across the sky like the fingers of some ghostly hand, robbing them of the moon and stars in a matter of seconds, and sending them into a deep gloom. 

The temperature _plunged_ and everything went silent, save for the hiss of the wind and the distant shrills of lightning. Kakashi felt as though a great dampener had been thrown across them, oppressive and sinister—pressing into his ears. There came several muted cries of fear from behind, and Konohamaru briefly caught Kakashi’s eye before calling for everyone to stay calm. 

“No matter what happens, stay in your groups,” the Sarutobi jounin ordered. “Remember your duty is to get out of here as quickly as possible. _Do not_ engage if you can avoid it.”

A particularly bright flash of lightning seared through the sky soon after his words. Several pre-genin balked, feeling the sheer power radiating from the strike. 

Kakashi’s gray eyes met Konohamaru’s as he addressed the jounin. “Stay together. Should you become separated, rely on myself and others to track down the missing students. Do not change directive, their lives are in your hands. Do what you will in order to keep them safe.” 

“Understood.” Konohamaru said, then hesitated, giving Kakashi a searching look. “For what it’s worth.... _Hound-san_ , I’m glad that you are with us.” 

Kakashi smiled beneath the mask. “Best of luck. And for the future—it’s Kakashi.” He offered a salute before dropping back to the rear guard. 

By the time he rejoined the formation, the darkness had reached a point that was nearly impenetrable. A light rain had begun to fall, and Kakashi could feel traces of chakra in the water droplets. There didn’t seem to be any effects laced with the water, but the realization did little to ease the tension in his chest. 

Ominous patches of blue-green stood out within the roiling cloud cover in great streaks of faded luminance. Flickers of lightning made landfall all around them, a searing, unnatural blue color. The keening screech each strike produced almost seemed like laughter, as if the storm were maliciously cackling at fleeing Konoha shinobi before its wrath. 

In the sudden bursts of harsh light, Kakashi noted that the pre-genin had closed ranks even further, and were practically glued to one another. Surrounding them, the volunteer shinobi had drawn and raised their weapons, eyes glinting through the rain as they scoured the surrounding trees for any sign of movement. Kakashi could see the nervous apprehension telegraphed in their posture, and feel their unease in the air. 

And that unease seemed to explode, the moment the ninken melted from the darkness. 

_Guruko._

The ninken’s squinted eyes moved up towards Kakashi, chest heaving with the effort of keeping up. Blood matted light brown fur on Guruko’s right side, and Kakashi felt a tugging sensation in his chest at the implications. 

“I’m sorry boss…” Guruko panted, “I couldn’t get through.” 

Kakashi nodded, “you did your best. Go back and heal, we’ll take it from here.”

The ninken nodded slowly, eyes dull with fatigue and pain. “Good luck, boss. Be careful.” And then he was gone. 

_Shit._

Kakashi wanted to yell aloud. 

It was already bad enough that they were fleeing for their lives—and to no longer have support nearby… and Kakashi _knew_ that there was a jounin team within a thirty kilometer radius…

With a sinking heart, he realized that Guruko’s inability to leave the area likely meant that Ūhei had suffered similar results in getting a message back to the village. And with the bloodline limit tearing up the sky, there was virtually zero chance that even Sai’s birds would survive. 

_Shit shit shit._

Suddenly, Kakashi felt a hand wrap about his wrist, and nearly flipped its owner before he registered the Iruka’s chakra signature. Definitely _not_ an enemy nin. 

Large brown eyes stared at him, dead serious, glinting slightly in the low light. “They’re close.” 

The Headmaster’s brow furrowed into a look of concentration. While Kakashi might have the advantage of speed and skill, Iruka was one of the best— _hidden_ —sensors in the Leaf, and was a force to be reckoned with when it came to brute strength. 

And, at that moment, the fact that _Iruka_ seemed to be struggling to decipher was out there, sent a whisper of dread through Kakashi’s mind. 

Then he felt it, the sensory overload nearly driving him to his knees. It was the pure feeling of hatred and anger—the killing intent of not just one, but _many_ rogue ninja. His heart sank. There were strong shinobi protecting the students, but against this… a small army...

The missing nin wanted the pre-genin, to destroy Konoha’s future, that much was almost for certain. 

But Kakashi knew that he could give them a better target, someone whose name would be _worth_ something when the bloodshed started. Thinking back to all the missions he’d run in his life, Kakashi knew that he’d likely been responsible for the death of at least some siblings, parents, or other family members of the rogue nin behind them. 

They hated him, the rogue and rebel ninja—because he had been the very tip of the spear, Konoha’s dark and bloody weapon—for decades. And he was banking on the fact that they’d want revenge. 

A part of him also noted that, as it was so often the case with rogue nin, there never were any answers when it came to motivation or directive. Some groups just _wandered_ , looking for an excuse to spread death and destruction. 

Losing to the missing nin wouldn’t be a bad way to go out, Kakashi reasoned, finding an odd sense of humor at the prospect. He was suddenly struck by the realization that the Nidaime had done the same just before his death. 

Using himself as bait. Saving his comrades. 

_But Iruka_. A voice in his head whispered. 

Kakashi’s gaze moved to the chunin Headmaster running beside him. He took in the way that man gracefully leapt between branches, eyes fixed on the pre-genin just ahead, and remembered their moment on the rooftop… 

Grim resolve curled in his stomach. 

Without meaning to, Kakashi found himself slowing, until he finally came to a halt. The nin were nearby, and closing in with every passing second. 

Exhaling, he dropped the transformation jutsu, and instantly felt his clothing soaking through, his silver hair whipping against his face without the protection of the porcelain mask. 

A hand—the same hand which had clasped his wrist only minutes before—came out of nowhere, grasped his upper arm and dragged him backwards off the branch. Gasping, Kakashi hung in mid air for a moment, before he felt himself being hoisted back up into a tree. 

The grip was iron. 

“Don’t you fucking _dare_ , Kakashi.” The chunin Headmaster snarled into his ear, voice breathless and raw. 

Eyes widening, Kakashi felt himself being hauled back into a sprint, practically flying behind Iruka as the man barreled through the trees. 

“You know that they would follow me,” Kakashi half-shouted back, “they want to cripple Konoha, this is my—” 

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Iruka repeated. Kakashi could feel the man’s chakra humming around them and struggled to free himself. 

Grunting slightly, Kakashi pulled back—hard—and brought them to a standstill. 

“Save your chakra, _sensei_ ,” he grated, feeling a sense of exasperation bubble up inside his mind. “I need you to protect—” 

Iruka did not release him, and instead jabbed a finger into the center of Kakashi’s chest.

“‘Protecting’ doesn’t always mean you have to _sacrifice_ yourself, Kakashi.” The chunin Headmaster was shouting now, desperate. “Konoha needs you— _I_ need you. But none of that matters if you’re dead!” 

Kakashi could hear the emotion there, the same rawness which betrayed just how much the chunin _cared._

“There are enough names on that tombstone already.” Iruka’s voice dropped, “so please don’t make me have to see yours there too.” 

The killing intent behind them was getting so intense that Kakashi was having trouble thinking straight. From the collective presence alone, there was no way to tell how many nin were behind them—whether it be ten, twenty, or a hundred. One thing, however, was for certain: there were a _lot_ of them.

Very soon, Kakashi knew that they would be overrun; every passing second was slowly eating away at their options. 

Iruka’s eyes seemed to glitter through the rain, and the chunin brought his hand up to cup Kakashi’s cheek. Closing his eyes, Kakashi leaned into the touch, feeling torn inside. The hand was damp, but he could feel warmth in the touch. 

“I’m here, Konohamaru is here, the ANBU, the chunin—you need to trust us, Kakashi.” 

Taking a deep breath, Kakashi worked to center himself. Iruka was right. 

“Maa, sensei—” His voice was meant to be light, but somehow came out just as raw as Iruka’s, “if we survive this, I’m taking you on a date. A _real_ date. Dinner at Ichiraku Ramen like old times?” 

“Oh I think we can do a lot more than just _that_.” 

Kakashi leaned in, pulling at his mask, and kissed the chunin Headmaster. Iruka responded, pressing himself against Kakashi. 

The hand on Kakashi’s cheek moving to cradle the back of his head, fingers running through his silver hair. 

Eventually they moved apart, foreheads pressed together. 

Iruka squeezed his hand tightly. “Please be careful, Kakashi.”

“You too, Iruka.” He whispered. 

Then they broke apart, Iruka melting back into the darkness off to his right as they both rejoined the formation. 

The wind kicked up first, slamming into his body and causing Kakashi to narrow his eyes, senses sharpening as his mindset slid back into that of the warrior. Drawing a kunai from his pack, Kakashi spun the blade between his fingers, anticipation burning just below a carefully-blank expression. 

Behind him, Kakashi’s robe flapped obnoxiously. Already weighed down by rainwater, the fabric picked up the wind like a sail, billowing all around him. Suddenly seized by an idea, Kakashi reached up and undid the clasp, peeling the cloth off his arms before releasing it. 

The white shape of the robe vanished into the night. 

If the nin hadn’t figured out who they were up against earlier, they did now. 

Hopefully, they also realized who was the higher value target. 

By the light of the next lightning bolt, Kakashi motioned to the others in the back line to fan out. He took the left flank, while Mouse took the right. Iruka was in the center, along with another chunin. 

It was a few minutes before Kakashi felt a telltale prickle run down his neck. 

Chakra filled the air, the foreign presence crawling against his skin and hanging thick in the air. 

Seconds later, great sheets of rain began to fall, driving downwards and making the branches slick and rather treacherous to navigate. The pricking intensified, and Kakashi found his hair beginning to stand on end. 

That wasn’t right. 

Eyes widening slightly, Kakashi sent chakra to his feet and pushed off the next branch, hearing Iruka call his name in shock as Kakashi took off like a rocket, rain peppering his flak jacket. 

The night sky lit up in an explosion of blue light. Kakashi felt the air hum around him, supercharged. 

Chakra flew to his fingertips, expanding across his upper body. He had less than seconds before impact—before the entire group of pre-genin beneath him were wiped off the face of the map. 

_“Shiden.”_

The air shrieked, a terrible sound reminiscent of metal-on-metal—but far worse, far more _piercing_. Purple and blue flashes lit up the sky, and the resulting thunderclap, the first sound even slightly reminiscent to that of an actual storm, proved just as loud—if not louder than the initial clash. 

He could feel his chakra humming, blazing through the air flowing out of his body at an alarming rate, holding back the enemy’s crackling energy. 

Kakashi’s fingers _burned_ , and he sensed their clashing chakra flashing out in all directions, dancing through the moisture in the air and forming a disk of pure destructive power, blinding and deafening at the same time. 

And then it was over—gone faster than he could process, fading into the night. 

Temporarily blinded, his ears ringing, Kakashi let himself freefall back towards the ground. The rain felt blessedly cool against his exposed skin. Looking down, Kakashi realized that his hands and arms were steaming, even through the rain. 

Rotating, and spreading out his limbs to slow his descent, Kakashi felt tiredness wash across his body. He’d expended quite a lot of chakra blocking that attack. 

A series of shouts met his still-ringing ears. It was the pre-genin, crying out his name in shock. 

Offering the students a salute, Kakashi flipped over and dove back below the trees. He pulled a second kunai from his bag, having dropped the first. 

He landed somewhere behind the formation, in a rather dark set of looming trees. 

Diverting chakra to his feet, Kakashi vaulted through the forest canopy in order to rejoin Iruka at the rear line of Konoha shinobi. 

He never made it back to the formation. 

||

One moment, Kakashi was in the branches of a large oak—and the next, the air seemed filled with the bodies of missing nin. Bursts of lightning and fire illuminated the air, while great swaths of the mud and runoff churned and bent to the will of a water release. 

In the darkness, Kakashi could barely tell who was attacking him and from what direction. The jutsu were coming from all sides. Flipping, he narrowed his eyes against the rain, and pushed off towards the ground. Landing, he summoned a clone, and they both took off at a sprint, Kakashi propelling himself into the trees, while his clone tore across the forest floor. 

A loud growl split the air. With barely any warning, Kakashi ducked under a wicked looking sword before lunging at a broad ex-Sand ninja who had seemingly melted from the darkness. 

Around him, the water thickened, the rain was congealing into a massive deluge, roaring upwards. Eyes going wide, Kakashi felt the Sand-nin’s sword shear past his midsection as he leapt back and somersaulted out of the tidalwave’s path. A patch of his flak jacket caught in the wind, a clean cut from the deadly blade’s bite.

His clone was nowhere to be seen, its silhouette having vanished from his view the moment he’d been attacked. 

Gathering chakra in his feet once more, Kakashi launched himself high above the treeline for the second time that night. It was impossible to see below the treeline. The air was too dense, even in the upper canopy, the rain was blinding and the branches cast far too many shadows. 

Figures melted out of the darkness below him, eyes glinting as the lightning continued to dance through the clouds. Kakashi felt his heart sink as he saw the shining, the rather alarming, assortment of bisected hitai-ate and feral smiles. There were more nin than he could count, and even when some were clearly clones, Kakashi found that his odds were growing worse and worse with every passing second. 

Jutsu flashed off to his left and Kakashi’s attention was pulled towards a water wall which flew up past the treeline, deflecting a large fireball before crashing back into darkness. Lightning illuminated the air, and a wind jutsu blasted upwards, sending a channel of leaves and broken branches high above the trees, rain peeling away around the cone-shaped attack. 

Wind release—something that he’d managed to grasp quite well during the war.

Seeing it used gave him an idea.

As Kakashi wove the signs for a wind attack, he felt the memories of his shadow clone to flood his mind. 

_A lightning-user._

_An ex-Cloud nin._

_—Iruka, his hair wild, fire in his eyes, temporarily sealing two pre-genin inside a protective barrier—_

_And a tall, short-haired woman with a devastating earth jutsu, swallowing the clone and slowly crushing the chakra-born life from its body_. 

Iruka was in danger.

 _Fucking damnit, I need to be there—I need to protect them._ He gritted his teeth, an animalistic snarl leaving his lips. 

His wind jutsu, with a little extra chakra thrown into its casting, split the night, throwing water, rain, trees, and enemy nin out of its path. A wide, mud-filled patch of land yawned before Kakashi, as he fought to catch his breath, his body falling back towards the treeline. His head let out a throb and he sank his teeth into his bottom—biting back a groan.

Figures moved at the edges of the clearing, drunken, indecipherable humanoid shapes that seemed to rise, phantomlike, from the mud and stagger forwards. 

It was impossible for Kakashi to see how many he’d taken out with the jutsu, but he hoped that it had done enough to make a difference. 

The moment, he landed, Kakashi pushed off back towards the formation, breath sharp in the back of his throat. 

Hardly for the first time, he cursed his state of inactivity, and all the many years he’d been trapped behind the desk growing weak. Already, his chakra reserves had been eaten away by his clones and manic sprint for time—and even more so by the act of pursuing the pre-genin class. Now, he could feel the telltale ache behind his eyes and the slow pulse of fatigue, warning-signs of his stamina dropping below its halfway point. 

Once again, he found himself grateful that he no longer possessed the sharingan. With how much jutsu he’d performed in the last hour, he’d have been in deep trouble by now—possibly even already in a depleted state. 

  
  


Kakashi darted from side to side, rain pelting his face, the sound of pursuit loud in his ears as he bounded from tree to tree. More than ever, Kakashi was grateful that he’d left his cloak behind, despite the value of the garb. 

This was not a fight where he needed to be recognized. 

This was a _battle_ —and there was only one thing that he needed to do. 

He thought of the pre-genin, their faces illuminated by the flickers of lightning high above them, pressed together out of fear as the sky hissed and spat. And then Kakashi thought of Iruka—the way that the man had looked out over the village, his face and hair highlighted in the darkness—the way that he’d smiled the previous night, and looked at Kakashi as his hands had slowly removed the mask—

What kind of a Hokage would he be if they died under his watch? 

A failure? A disgrace? 

In his mind’s eye, Kakashi saw Rin, her eyes wide as blood spilled down from her mouth, his arm thrust through the center of her chest, her blood warm against his wrist and hand as the bright flashes of his own chakra pulled at her life—

 _Never again,_ he had vowed after that. 

He had failed them—all of them, even his sensei. 

But he wouldn’t fail this time. He _couldn’t._

Anxiety burned at the base of his throat, constricting, adding a earnest fervor to his every move. 

Killing intent swamped across his senses and Kakshi felt the air around him begin to hum. 

He recognized this chakra, it was the same nin who had summoned the lightning from before, the same bloodline limit user who had transformed the forest into a deadly hellscape. 

The grating clash between the two lightning natures—his own and the enemy nin’s—sent a crawling sensation across his body, making his hair stand on end. 

A light was flickering above him. 

Gritting his teeth, Kakashi barely had time to dive out of the way before a massive bolt of lightning crashed down where he’d just been standing, decimating the tree he’d been perched in. A cry of pain filled the air as another rogue nin toppled to the forest floor, clearly having been caught by the destructive jutsu. 

_They band together, and yet are willing to kill in favor of landing a hit on an enemy._ The realization sent waves of revulsion through Kakashi’s mind. 

With a snarl, his chakra ignited into a crackling halo of purple electricity. Lunging to a nearby tree, he drilled through the trunk in a shower of splintered wood, catching a pair of nin off guard. 

The last thing the nin would ever see was his purple lightning as it channeled downwards into a deadly lance—a blade not unlike the raikiri which he had so often used before. 

Blood sprayed upwards, covering his flak jacket, arms, and chest, momentarily blinding him before the rain washed it off his face. 

Eyes blazing, red-tinged hair hanging low over his eyes, Kakashi searched for a new target, a snarl visible even beneath his mask. Alighting in the uppermost branches of a tall tree, he scanned the forest, but halted as he caught sight of movement a sizable distance away. 

Just above the treeline, screened by both Kakashi’s narrowed eyes and the driving rain, he could see a spiral forming in the clouds up ahead, glowing ominously. Within the churning depths, he could almost see a face, twisted and grinning in the cloud cover, energy crackling at its deadly fangs. 

A light, radiant purple, illuminated the forest throwing everything ahead of Kakashi into harsh relief. He blinked, brow furrowing as his eyes burned from the glow. 

Kakashi could sense Iruka’s chakra signature growing, expanding in the air. As the barrier expanded horizontally, the sides curved downwards to form a dome; Kakashi recognized the familiar pattern in the radiant, purple chakra reflected in its depths. 

A deep sense of pride burst through Kakashi’s cold focus, warm in his chest. 

_Never underestimate Iruka-sensei_ , he thought, shaking his head slightly. 

The night split first from the blinding flash—and then from the hideous scream like a thousand nails raking across a chalkboard, as the blue lightning tore downwards, colliding with the barrier in a massive roar.

Faster than he could blink, both the barrier and lightning had vanished. Desperately hoping that it had been _Iruka_ releasing the barrier to conserve chakra, Kakashi tore his focus away from the distant formation and ducked just in time to dodge a flying kunai.

The anxiety which Kakashi had been feeling in his chest since he had split from the rest of the formation, lessened slightly, but returned in full force as he heard a muffled _boom_ fill the air. 

As he turned to engage the incoming enemy, Kakashi chanced a glance over his shoulder. A furious wildfire rose from the section of forest where the barrier had stood. 

Flashes of jutsu light the night, an accompaniment to the flames. 

Kakashi gritted his teeth, and forced back his worries, and slammed the cold mindset of the soldier down over his emotions. 

* * *

By all means, he _should_ have sensed the flood of enemy chakra in the air, and noticed the sign of a widespread attack as the other nin peeled off in different directions. 

Either way, Kakashi had one terrible moment of silence, his body seemingly suspended mid-jump, hands pressed together across his chest, before all air left his body. He couldn’t yell or cry out—he couldn’t even _breathe_.

The air slammed into him, the rain first pelting into his skin, and then biting into every part of his body like thousands of needles, as he felt himself being hurled skyward, body spinning and rotating far past any hope of control. 

There were flames below him, roiling upwards in anticipation of his descent. The cacophony of fire consuming wood, and the spit of vaporizing rain filled the night air with its sick rumbling laughter. 

A sinking feeling entered the pit of Kakashi’s stomach as the searing heat of the flames greeted him. 

There was no way for him to dodge, and he was no clone. Try as he might, his limbs would not respond—

Something slammed into his side, causing his joints to audibly crack and crunch all across his upper body. Kunai in hand, Kakashi and his unknown assailant plummeted, towards the trees. 

There was a shining in the darkness, a hitai-ate of an enemy nin, growing closer and closer—

And then the world inverted, making Kakashi gasp out loud as he fell heavily to the ground and rolled, tucking his legs under him at the last second so as to shakily come up on one knee. The kunai in his hand was slick with blood as he raised it, the rain pattering lightly against the skin of his hand. 

He was in a clearing, the canopy looming overhead, screening the rain slightly with its large bows. Someone was panting nearby—gasping for breath— and his senses told him that the pre-genin were also close, scattered just beyond visual range. 

“Rokudaime!” A familiar voice called out, and Kakashi’s attention snapped to a nearby nin, the blade in his hand rising. 

Sai was limping towards him, one pale hand raised in a peaceful gesture, while the other covertly passing a series of hand signals his way, carefully noting a secret message which would prove his identity. 

The ex-ROOT member looked worse for wear, blood and water-soaked bandages encasing his right arm from shoulder to wrist. One hand was pressed against a deep, open gash on his leg, and the smile on his face that he was giving Kakshi was forced, _very_ forced. 

Kakashi’s attention returned to his rescuer, and his heart skipped a beat. 

Iruka was slowly climbing to his feet, clothing torn, hair dark from the rain and falling about his face. He was covered with mud and smoke stains, the blue of his jacket nearly indistinguishable from the grime that covered him head to toe. Blood seeped from various cuts across his body, adding darkened patches to his appearance. 

For a moment, Kakashi found his mind picking out all the reasons why seeing Iruka covered in grime just made him look _hotter_ , but those thoughts quickly died as the ground near the Headmaster’s feet. 

Iruka leaned down, expression concerned. Large brown eyes followed the ninken dragging himself across the ground, a leg twisted awkwardly to the side, leaving a small trench in the ground behind him. 

Kakashi pushed himself to his feet, and hastened toward the two figures before him, kneeling down beside Bisuke, who stared up at him with dull eyes. 

“Hokage-sama, we ran into trouble only a few klicks from town,” Sai’s voice met Kakashi’s ears. 

Resting a hand gently on Bisuke’s heavily-stained fur, Kakashi’s brow furrowed, worry and fear working its way through him. 

“How long do we have?” Kakashi’s gaze met Iruka’s brown eyes. The chunin had an angry burn on the right side of his face and hand, and Kakashi felt his worry redouble. 

Mentally cursing his carelessness in getting caught by the wind release, Kakashi forced the thoughts aside. 

“We caught a large number of nin in a genjutsu a ways back,” Iruka replied, eyes serious, “and we managed to trick a few more into following clones.” 

The Headmaster opened his mouth to speak again, but Bisuke interrupted, his breath harsh and gasping slightly. 

“Boss.” The dark circles around the ninken’s eyes seemed more sunken than usual. “We think that Ūhei might have—made it through.” 

“It’s very true, but it will be hours before he gets to Konoha—and even longer before help will arrive,” Sai supplemented; his voice was beginning to lose its smile. 

Kakashi’s eyes widened slightly as he proceeded what he’d just been told. He looked back just in time to see a grimace overtaking the jounin’s expression. 

“Sai, you should go join the wounded, Atsuo is tending to them now.” Iruka’s voice was stern and commanding. 

Casting one more glance at the ninken, Sai nodded, and dragged himself off towards the far treeline where Kakashi could make out the glow of medical ninjutsu. One of the chunin volunteers, no doubt. 

Distantly, he heard Konohamaru’s voice. “Get ready to move out, they’ll be on us again if we just sit here.” 

“Go home, Bisuke…” Kakashi said softly, his voice barely audible above the rain, “you need to rest. You did well.” 

“Boss—” Wide brown eyes, filled with pain, stared up at Kakashi, “there’s a lot of them out there, are you sure? You might need our help—” 

Kakashi shook his head. “You need _rest_ , Bisuke. Stay safe, all of you.” 

“You too boss.” 

The ninken gave him one last searching look before disappearing in a puff of smoke. 

Kakashi let out a breath, eyes fixed on the spot of mud where Bisuke had stood, the ninken’s blood still visible against the churned earth. 

A hand rested itself on his shoulder, causing him to look up. 

“Kakashi-san,” Iruka was standing next to him, a worried expression on his face, twisting at the scar on his nose. “Are you alright?” 

Binking, Kakashi suddenly became aware that he was covered in bloodstains. His right glove was covered with it, and the underside of his nails caked with scarlet. 

“I’m okay,” he replied, softly, pushing himself to his feet. 

The chunin stepped back and nodded, heaving a deep sigh. “We don’t have much time. The students are shaken, but we somehow still have a full headcount. I can only hope that we can keep it that way.” 

Iruka’s expression grew more serious. “Two of the volunteers took some pretty nasty hits, and Mouse is down for the count… He was in the water when an offshoot of that lightning hit us. I couldn’t get the barrier to cover everyone in time…” 

The chunin Headmaster’s voice trailed off. 

Kakashi gave him a light punch in the unscorched shoulder. “I saw the barrier, you did good, sensei.” 

Iruka looked as though he was about to argue, and then closed his mouth, shaking his head. “You were right, Kakashi. The enemy nin—they went right for the students. I could see you fighting far away, and I know that you distracted a great many of them, but…” 

Iruka seemed to fumble for words before finally looking up at Kakashi with a pained expression. “I’m just glad you’re here.” 

Kakashi let out a breath and reached out to Iruka, resting a hand on the Headmaster’s shoulder. “Maa—there’s nowhere else I’d rather be, sensei.” 

Iruka swallowed and nodded, shaking his head again. Kakashi watched as the man opened his mouth to say something only to freeze, head jerking to the left, eyes narrowing. 

“We need to go join the others and get out of here.” Without hesitation, Kakashi followed the Headmaster as the man took off towards the others. 

“This break was necessary,” Iruka called back to him, “too many wounded, and it’s unlikely that we’ll have another chance to catch a breather.” 

Kakashi hummed in agreement. “It was the right call.” 

When they reached the trees, the pre-genin were already leaving, the tail end of the formation melting into the darkness ahead. Kakashi felt a stab of pride enter him as he recognized Konohamaru’s leadership. 

Kakashi willfully ignored the fading, scarlet stains in the grass as he passed back into the shadows. 

* * *

### Above them, the storm had quieted slightly, and off in the far distance, Kakashi could see the edge of the clouds. Whoever the jutsu caster was, they had not been taken out yet, and was clearly a ways behind them. 

### Kakashi had to imagine that they would be growing tired soon as well. Holding a storm of such caliber, bloodline limit or not, took an _immense_ amount of chakra. 

###  _Which probably means that they’re in the back, and likely well-guarded_ , he thought. 

###  _That will be hard to get to, downright impossible._

Battles, fights, conflict—they weren’t a strategy game or puzzle. They were messy, filled with quick decisions, hair-raising moments of near-death, blood, gore, and _waiting_. It was do or die—but in bursts, the rapid pace punctuated and broken by painful moments of silence with tension hanging in the air like a poison. 

As Kakashi leapt through the trees, shoulder-to-shoulder with Iruka behind the ranks of pre-genin and wounded, he couldn’t help but feel the deep-set anticipation eating at his bones. 

Everyone was worse for wear, caked in mud, and supporting one another as they continued their frantic dash East. 

  
  
  


Even as he mused, feeling his legs ache with every passing step, a bolt of chakra-infused lightning zigzagged overhead. The shriek caused several pre-genin to flinch. 

Beside him, Iruka’s gaze moved to Kakashi, his brown eyes reflecting the light. “The enemy nin are on the move again,” the man whispered. “They’re moving faster than we are too. With the wounded—we won’t make it, not for long anyways. It was only a matter of time, but if we hadn’t made the stop, then we almost certainly would’ve lost lives.” 

Kakashi shook his head, mouth twisting beneath the mask. He felt exhaustion fill him, a weariness of both the mind and body. “We can’t let ourselves be surrounded. You know as well as I do that it would be over right then and there.”

Iruka nodded, a pained expression on his face. “Mouse is down, and our medic is the only one left standing by the volunteers. Sai _could_ fight, but I think he’d be best suited to stay with the rest… and I hesitate to separate Konohamaru and Raven from the others…” 

Kakashi took a deep breath and looked over his shoulder, eyes staring off into the darkness. He remembered the flicker of metal and the gleaming eyes of the nin. 

There were no grand standoffs between murderers and their prey, especially when the targets were young. These nin were assassins in their own right. 

_He_ could protect them. Everyone. 

All he had to do was make a big enough distraction, something that the nin could not afford to ignore. For everyone’s sake, now was the time more than ever. 

“Cut the bullshit, Bakashi.” Kakashi wasn’t surprised to hear Iruka’s snarl punctuate the air. The chunin had read him like an open book. 

“How many times do I have to tell you before it finally gets through that thick skull of yours? You need to have _someone_ with you. We don’t all need to be protected by ANBU and jounin if you are out there getting your ass slaughtered by a small army.”

Kakashi shifted, and slowly moved to meet Iruka’s searing gaze. He opened his mouth, and then closed it again. 

“I’m _going_ with you,” Iruka hissed between gritted teeth, “and you’re _not_ going to stop me.” 

Behind them, lightning flickered, but its wavering cry seemed muted to Kakashi’s ears. 

Chest was constricting, Kakashi let his eyes fall shut. His loved ones, this was always what happened. 

They died in front of him. 

And there was never a _fucking thing_ that he could do about it. 

But Iruka… It wasn’t too late. 

Kakashi shook his head. “I can’t let you do this, Iruka.” He whispered. “I can’t.” 

“What?” Iruka couldn’t have heard him. 

Struggling to even his breathing, Kakashi grappled with his heart and mind, desperately trying to find an excuse— _anything_ to keep the chunin from following him. 

If any other ninja took his place, they would certainly _die_. He was the Hokage of the Land of Fire; a walking target that the enemy would pursue. 

He also had the highest chance of making it out alive. 

Kakashi could feel the presence of the enemy nin, drawing closer and closer, a wall of malice and hate in the depths of the storm. 

The rain, which had decreased to the intensity of a light drizzle, began to grow heavier again. 

Great, fat droplets of water splashed into Kakashi’s face as he battled it out in his mind. 

“Iruka, they need you. If you come with me, it will almost certainly be a one way trip. I can’t risk you—” 

He slammed his mouth shut, and met the chunin Headmaster’s venomous look with a glare of his own. 

“You think that right now they need me more than you?” Iruka spat. “ _Think_ , Kakashi. If you really are the distraction, the _only_ thing standing in the way of those nin back there who are willing to kill _my students_ without hesitation.” Iruka jabbed a finger into Kakashi’s chest. “If you go down, then we’ll be just as fucked over.”

Kakashi couldn’t help but take a step back, expression contorting slightly at the acid in the Headmaster’s voice. It had been a long time since he’d heard Iruka so worked up. 

For a moment, he held Iruka’s glare, and then the man broke eye contact, closing his eyes. A red flush was blossoming across Iruka’s face, visible beneath the layers of grime. 

“And… I know that this is personal, Kakashi—but I’d much rather get the chance to have that date. I don’t want the next time I bring you flowers to be at your tombstone. ” 

Kakashi felt his heart tear at the chunin Headmaster’s words. 

Just as he was about to reply, however, a scream split the night, a _human_ scream. Iruka’s eyes went wide and Kakashi’s gaze locked on a disturbance towards the middle of the formation in front of them. 

“Those motherfuckers—” Iruka swore. 

A wail filled the air as the enemy nin raised a longsword above his head, about to swing it downwards onto the vulnerable form of the medic nin. The medic’s eyes were wide, mouth opened in shock, arms still wrapped about his comrade who was unconscious. 

Konohamaru’s yell filled the air, and the Sarutobi jounin caught the missing nin in a full-body tackle. Water flew from their falling figures as both shinobi plummeted to the ground. 

Iruka glared at Kakashi again. 

Both of them had begun to slow, and Kakashi looked over his shoulder, brow furrowing. 

There was a pre-genin missing—left behind or taken hostage. How else would an enemy nin get through their ranks? 

Iruka’s hand, cold and damp from the rain, found Kakashi’s. Without looking at the Headmaster, Kakashi spoke softly. 

“This is it, then. Please, Iruka…” He couldn’t finish the sentence. He couldn’t bear to even _consider_ what could happen to the chunin…” It hurt too much—

The Headmaster’s brown eyes were shimmer slightly through the rain when Kakashi finally looked at Iruka. He gave the hand a tight squeeze, _pleading_ for the man to turn back, even though he knew that the chunin had already made up his mind. 

“Bakashi,” Iruka’s voice sounded slightly choked. “I’m not going _anywhere_.” 


	5. Holding the Line

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fight.  
> The realization.  
> And the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so here is the final chapter of this fic!
> 
> Again, thank you so /so/ much to my lovely beta for helping get this together, and being so patient and kind with me through the writing process <33
> 
> It's really hard to believe that, two weeks ago, this whole fic was a massive mess just stuffed into a random notebook. I had an absolute blast writing this, and seeing it come to an end is still surreal, not going to lie! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this final chapter <33

“ _Doton—doryuuheki_.” The words were choked, but strong, when they left Kakashi’s lips. 

He felt his face contort, expression crumbling under the weight of everything—the pain of separation and the heartbreaking reality that it could be the end—as he slammed his palms to the muddy ground. His fingers sank into the muck, fingers nearly disappearing completely. 

He threw more chakra into the jutsu than he had any other that night thus far, willing the large, dark walls to mark the divide between himself and those he wished to protect. 

It was a line that he would hold to the bitter end, or just long enough for Iruka to get the pre-genin out of harm’s way. The Headmaster had, thankfully, recognized the compromise in Kakashi’s offer when explaining the potential course of action. 

Kakashi was still the distraction, that much was left unsaid, he was the best person for the job. Iruka, however, would have a different directive: to find and rescue the missing pre-genin while Kakashi wreaked havoc. 

The chakra pull of the walls tore through Kakashi’s body like a wildfire, and he had to bite back the groan which threatened to leave his lips. He might have put just a little _too_ much into the walls. 

Iruka’s hand was steady on his shoulder, and Kakashi chanced a glance upwards at the chunin. Hair whipping in the wind, the chunin squinted down at him through the driving rain, jaw set—determined. 

As the walls locked in, continuing their ascent, Kakashi felt a hand grip the underside of his arm and haul him upwards. 

Unwilling to be dead weight in his lover’s arms, Kakashi flipped upwards, pushing chakra into his feet so that he landed beside Iruka atop the mud wall. The tops of the trees soon fell below them, level with the snarling faces of the ninken which jutted outwards from the smooth jutsu-infused construct, menacing in the night. 

Kakashi could see the enemy nin approaching, their shadows occasionally illuminated by the lightning. The strikes had become less frequent, Kakashi noted. Perhaps the caster was becoming fatigued from holding such a powerful jutsu for so long? 

Crouching low against the wall, out of sight of the incoming nin, Kakashi motioned to Iruka to do the same. 

“Iruka, do you trust me?” He stared into the depths of the Headmaster’s brown eyes. 

“Yes, you know I do.” Came the reply, suspicion creeping onto the man’s face. 

“This will work,” Kakashi said softly. 

Iruka nodded, eyes glittering. “It had better. We don’t have much other choice.” 

Brow furrowing, Iruka first wove the hand signs for a shadow clone, and when the copy of himself popped into existence beside them, Iruka transformed the clone. 

Kakashi looked the clone up and down. It was indeed a mirror image of _himself_. Iruka’s shadow clone eyed Kakashi for a moment before shrugging and sitting back. Nodding, Kakashi transformed himself into Iruka, and then pushed himself to a standing position. 

“They’re likely going to try and barter with the student they took,” Kakashi hissed softly. “Follow my lead. I’d be shocked if they don’t.” 

The real Iruka hummed in acknowledgement, and lay down on top of the wall. From below, the Headmaster was practically invisible. 

||

When the nin finally arrived at the base of the wall, they fanned out in a line, forming a half-circle in a clearing just to Kakashi’s right. There were ten left, all looking slightly battered, but determined. 

Iruka’s clone initiated the movement, already falling into character, and Kakashi watched his own silver hair disappear over the edge of the wall. He winced internally as Iruka landed, realizing that the few years between the two of them, and the decades-worth of beating that his own had endured, now made a distinctive difference between their physicalities. 

Leaping after the chunin, Kakashi landed, and did not need to fake the half-stagger when he landed, feeling pain shoot up his left leg for no reason that he could think of. 

Gritting his teeth, Kakashi pulled himself upright, noting the look of concern that Iruka’s clone shot him before folding his arms and facing the nin. 

The leader of the group, or at least the one who spoke first, was a big burly nin that Kakashi recognized from his shadow clone. 

Tall, brooding, with a beard and dark hair, the ex-Sand nin folded his arms and snarled at Iruka’s clone. 

“Your kind don’t deserve to lead.” The nin’s low voice was echoed by the distant hiss of lightning. “Just how much blood do you have on your hands now?” 

Iruka’s clone, posing as Kakashi, didn’t skip a beat, although Kakashi had a feeling that the nin’s comments had cut into the chunin like a knife. 

“Plenty, I guess?” Iruka’s clone replied nonchalantly in a near-perfect impersonation of Kakashi’s lazy drawl. 

“Well then, what’s one more to you?” Came a female voice, practically spitting with anger. 

A woman, ex-Mist by the looks of it, melted from the shadows nearby, a well-muscled arm dragging a boy behind her by the hair, a wicked knife pressed against the child’s throat. Two nin, clearly bodyguards, flanked her on both sides. 

Kakashi’s eyes widened as he recognized the kid to be one of the trio who had melted the statue—the _same_ one who had waved the card above his head back on the beach side. 

“Come on then, _Hokage-sama_ ,” the woman’s voice dripped with sarcasm as her eyes bored into Iruka’s transformed ones, “what’s one more life to you? You didn’t even bat an eye when you slaughtered my whole family in front of my eyes.” 

Kakashi could see the slight stiffness enter Iruka’s clone’s posture. 

“I don’t see a sharingan in your eye now, _bastard_. Have you finally moved on?” The woman grinned, a feral smile that twisted her face with a sort of mania, “they say that you stole it from an Uchiha—carved it out and took it for yourself when the bitch died.” 

The facts were clearly wrong, but a hard, cold feeling entered the pit of Kakashi’s stomach nonetheless at the jab. He clenched his fists at his sides, more grateful than ever that he and Iruka had switched. 

A few enemy nin standing around him shifted slightly, many of them sporting slight smiles at their comrade’s jibes. 

Smirking, the woman’s gaze fell on Iruka’s clone and she sneered, kicking the pre-genin boy’s knees out and digging the knife deeper into the skin of his neck, drawing a thin line of blood. She yanked his head back, fingers gripping the pre-genin’s reddish-brown hair, barely recognizable in color in the darkness. 

“So, _friend-killer_ ,” the female nin hissed, “what will it be?” 

Iruka’s clone narrowed his eyes, and glared, a snarl forming on his—Kakashi’s—lips beneath the mask. 

Kakashi felt two nin come up behind him on his left, and tensed. 

Nearby, Iruka’s clone moved as well, but both of them froze when the ex-Mist nin dug her knife deeper into the pre-genin’s throat with the movement. Blood ran down the length of the blade, visible in the semi-darkness. The threat was obvious, and hung heavy in the air. 

Hands raised, Kakashi grunted slightly as his knees were kicked out, from behind, throwing him forwards onto all fours. Kakashi let himself be bound and tossed into the custody of two strong-looking nin. Their hands dug into his shoulders, pressing him into the ground. 

Iruka’s clone stared daggers at the woman as she laughed softly. “It’s funny how useless you are now without that power of yours. And, _yes_ , I have people surrounding me. You won’t be able to lightning-blade me from behind. I’ve seen how you fight, _coward_.”

The insults washed off of Kakashi, even though the stab about the sharingan _did_ sting a bit. 

Hauled roughly from the ground, Kakashi was dragged to a standing position, and shoved against the ex-Sand nin. 

“Release the boy.” Iruka’s voice was flat, eerily similar to Kakashi’s in such situations. 

He was closer to the boy now, and could see the tension in the woman, the way her every move was focused on Iruka’s clone. Even through the drizzle, her hand seemed to respond to every single small twitch. It was problematic. 

For what felt like centuries, Kakashi sat there, listening to the boy’s soft whimpers, and the dialogue between Iruka’s clone and the woman. He knew that the clone—and Iruka—were both waiting for the right moment, for the ex-Mist nin to release the boy just by a _hair._

Another missing nin entered the clearing, a middle-aged, heavily-scarred female rogue nin. The woman briefly nodded to the newcomer before returning her attention back to Iruka’s clone. 

Already, a hundred different plans were sprouting through Kakashi’s mind. He was leaning towards improvising, towards possibly forcing the woman’s hand back—

He’d expected the seal that burst to life at the woman’s feet and snaked its way up her legs and arms. What he _hadn’t_ expected was the barriers which shot up from the ground, surrounding the two nin stationed behind the woman and her captive—or the figure peeled from the undergrowth behind the line of nin, a wicked, stolen sword flashing in his hands as he bore down on the restrained ex-Mist nin. 

Then, Iruka’s clone transformation disappeared in a small puff of smoke. 

The clearing erupted into chaos. 

Eyes wide, the woman cried out, face streaked with the black swirl of Iruka’s seal. Kakashi could see the fear in her eyes. In her slackened grip, the pre-genin boy squirmed free, clutching his throat, eyes wide. 

Inside the barriers, the four trapped ninja raged, slamming their fists and kunai into the solid barrier in hopes of breaking out, but to no avail. 

The remaining nin in the clearing hesitated, and Kakashi took ruthless advantage of their pause. 

Shock and terror ran across their faces as Kakashi let waves of chakra roll down his arms, snapping the bonds in seconds. Purple lightning coursed down his arms, and Kakashi rammed a shoulder into one of the nin behind him, willing the deadly lightning to arc across the unlucky man’s body. 

The rogue nin crumpled, steaming in the darkness. Kakashi stepped over the body and landed a solid, chakra-infused roundhouse kick into another nin’s face, feeling bone crunch upon contact. 

As the unmarked nin keeled back, Kakashi caught them and twisted, dropping his weight onto the nin’s spine, purple lightning crackling in the air as he drove the ex-shinobi’s body downwards. The nin was dead before they hit the ground. 

Across the clearing, the earth seemed to morph and twist before bursting outwards. Iruka shot upwards, his blue jacket rippling as he drove a kunai into the chest of a rogue nin, blood splattering across the ground, visible through the light rain. 

Kakashi could sense Iruka felling a second nin who had been standing too close to his entry with the aid of the pre-genin. Kakashi’s main focus, however, was now fixed on the sealed ex-Mist nin in front. Iruka’s henge, the scarred rogue nin woman who Iruka had reportedly killed earlier, slammed the sword through the ex-Mist nin before disappearing into a small puff of smoke. 

“Kakashi!” Iruka’s voice yelled, flipping backwards through the air, his brown eyes narrowed and glinting in the low light. “Now!” 

Iruka landed right next to the pre-genin, who had just been knocked backwards by the enemy nin, and immediately lunged forwards, palm splashing down in the mud. Purple light expanded upwards, encasing the Headmaster and the pre-genin. 

Kakashi could see Iruka’s shoulders heaving for breath by the light of purple barriers, and could visibly see the signs of near-chakra depletion in the deep shadows beneath the Headmaster’s eyes. 

The barriers around the remaining nin vanished, and they stumbled, two already snarling and breaking into a run, charging Kakashi. The other two balked slightly as they felt Kakashi’s chakra surge. 

Drawing himself up, Kakashi grinned, taking an odd, savage pleasure in their fear. 

_“Shiden_ . _”_

The clearing exploded into a flickering web of pure energy, the lightning speeding across the muddied earth and leaping between raindrops, rebounding across every damp or metal object it touched. 

Kakashi’s eyes watched the two nin that had charged him stiffen. Their eyes were wide and there mouths wide open as the purple electricity raced through their bodies. 

Towards the edge of the clearing, however, Kakashi heard terrible screeching sound. 

With a muted snarl, Kakshi realized that one of the nin, who had recovered from her fear, had lightning release, and had countered a part of his jutsu, protecting herself and the nin beside her. 

She looked tired, and her arms shook as she released chakra in front of her, the air hissing and spitting, the two energies refusing to mix. 

Instantly, Kakashi recognized her as the source of the storm. 

The purple barrier surrounding Iruka flickered and went out, and Kakashi watched the chunin Headmaster heave himself to his feet. 

Unfortunately, one of the nin that Kakashi _thought he'd_ electrocuted very nicely earlier, did the same, shaking themselves before fixing him with a glare. 

It was three on two, which ordinarily wasn’t a very big problem for Kakashi under normal circumstances. 

But with the ground sopping wet, causing him to sink up to his ankles in sludge, his bones aching terribly, and approaching dangerously-low chakra levels, he sensed that things had the potential to go _very_ badly this time. 

The first hit Kakashi took was a cut to the left shoulder, a result of—ironically—the enemy nin’s failure to take the mud into account and losing traction. The unpredictability of the move had been what caught Kakashi off-guard. 

So it was with confusion written across their expression, that the one of the two nin he was fighting watched Kakashi flip away, clutching a bleeding shoulder. 

Chest heaving, Kakashi barely had the strength to duck to the side as the other, unfazed nin of the group, lunged and buried a shuriken in the ground where he’d just been crouched. 

The problem that Kakashi faced with these particular two nin was that they worked well together, moving in sync rather than the chaotic mess that he’d faced earlier. 

As it turned out, the female nin in charge of the storm was quite adept at taijutsu, and could match Kakashi quite well, keeping him occupied while her teammate would loop around and force him to go on the defensive while she expertly jabbed, kicked, and slashed at Kakashi with her shortsword. 

Iruka and the pre-genin boy were busy with the ex-Sand nin, who was almost certainly jounin-level, like the storm caster. The two, the sensei and student ducked and weaved around one another, working well as a team, but were still slowly losing ground. 

Kakashi had foolishly allowed his attention to drift to the other fight, fatigue slowing his reaction time. He saw the kick, and his brain certainly had _registered_ that it was coming, but his body just hadn’t responded fast enough. 

His breath audibly rushing from his lungs, the storm nin’s foot caught him full in the solar plexus, chakra-infused, and hard enough to send Kakashi flying across the clearing. 

Rolling through the mud, Kakashi grounded, his breath whistling in his ears as he fought for air. It had been a _long_ time since someone had last managed to get a direct hit on him like that. A very long time. 

His fingers sank into the mud with a squelch, and he felt the rain peppering against his exposed skin. Driving a knee into the damp earth, Kakashi pulled himself into a crouch. 

“Kakashi!” 

Iruka’s cry of warning was all he had before the pair of nin were onto him. 

A foot flew towards him—the storm nin’s partner—aiming for his head, and Kakashi ducked, grasping the man’s calf before springing upwards, bracing his shoulder into the flat side of the man’s shin and twisting. 

A stupid mistake. 

The nin howled and splashed down nearby, his leg snapped across Kakashi’s right shoulder. Kakashi spun and sent a deadly wave of purple chakra through the mud, silencing the nin. 

“Fuck you.” The storm nin’s face shone with sweat, her snarl thrown into harsh relief by his purple lightning. 

Breathing painful, his bones aching terribly, Kakashi lunged at the storm nin, pulling her partner’s sword from where he’d dropped it in the mud. 

The resounding clash of metal reverberated about the clearing. 

For some time, Kakashi and the storm nin traded blows both growing increasingly weary. 

What marked the end of their bout, was Iruka. For some time, Kakashi had noticed that the chunin and the pre-genin were losing, and now Kakashi realized that things were going _rapidly_ downhill for the pair. 

The only problem: he could not break free of his duel with the storm nin. 

And so he watched, keeping himself facing the other three, and agonized over the way that Iruka’s arms shook each time he blocked an attack, and the way that the Headmaster threw himself at his opponent with less and less concern for his own wellbeing. 

“Sensei!” Kakashi finally heard the pre-genin’s shout—the one he’d been anticipating but hoping that he’d never hear. 

Kakashi flicked his gaze over to the other fight just in time to watch Iruka’s opponent sink his blade into the Headmaster’s thigh. 

Iruka yelled, a raw, terrible sound which went right to Kakashi’s heart. Gasping, Kakashi felt rage boil in his stomach. 

He let out a growl as the storm nin’s sword grazed his chest, cutting through his flak jacket, and leapt backwards. Feeling his tired muscles scream in protest. 

But Kakashi didn’t care. 

The only thing that mattered to him was the man who toppled slowly to the ground, a blade glinting wickedly in the darkness, blood swirling in the light rain. Iruka hit the ground with a splash, his expression tight with pain. 

Kakashi changed course immediately, his feet slipping and sliding in the inches of mud beneath the soles of his shoes. 

He had to make it. He _had_ to. 

Something thudded into his side, and he could feel pain radiating through his ribs, encasing his midsection in white-hot flame. Closing his eyes, he gasped, the interception causing his footing to waver slightly. 

The large ex-Sand nin was towering over Iruka, feet braced on either side of the Headmaster, a fist raised. Nearby, the pre-genin cast aside in the mud, unconscious.

Kakashi shoved chakra into his feet pulling his chakra levels far lower than what could be considered safe, and flew at the enemy nin. Caught by surprise, the nin shot backwards and hit a tree, body snapping back from the impact. 

Iruka’s gasps were loud in Kakashi’s ears, and he knelt by the chunin, hands finding the man’s shoulders. 

A hand grabbed his wrist and Iruka stared up at him, brown eyes filled with pain but defiant. 

“Kakashi—” He gasped. 

Kakashi could already see it reflected in the chunin Headmaster’s eyes. 

A steady wind began to kick up, bringing the screeching sound of lightning along with it. The sound seemed deafening to Kakashi. 

Brain sluggishly computing that they were about to get wiped out by lightning, Kakashi’s eyes moved to the storm nin, and watched numbly as her fingers wove a long, complex stream of hand signs. 

_Shit._

His eyes widened as he felt the telltale feeling of her chakra rubbing against his, and heard the ominous hissing shriek fill the air above them. 

There was a roar, and all around Iruka and Kakashi, the air began to crackle. 

Iruka’s weight suddenly fell onto one side of Kakashi, who hissed as his side gave an almighty throb. He didn’t dare look down at the damage. He knew it was shuriken, a gift from the storm nin. 

Propped up, leaning heavily on Kakashi, Iruka began frantically weaving hand signs. Kakashi’s eyes bugged as he realized just how complicated, and how much chakra the chunin Headmaster was about to use. 

“Iruka—” Kakashi tried to grab hold of the chunin, but Iruka whipped to the side and kept going, teeth barred, hair tossing water as he moved, loose about the man’s shoulders. 

The chunin’s chakra filled the air, embracing Kakashi in its familiar presence. 

Already a purple barrier had burst to life above him, a circular, glowing shield separating them and the incoming lightning. 

It was then that Kakashi registered the storm nin’s presence again, her killing intent filling the air. She was already racing towards him, sword drawn, lips parted in a terrible grin. 

Kakashi instinctively heaved himself upwards, rising to meet her. Blood spilled from his side, and the pain nearly knocked him over the moment that he left the ground. 

Images of Rin—of Obito flashed before Kakashi’s eyes. The people he’d lost, the people he’d _visited_ in the cemetery for decades. 

Iruka would not be one of those names, not on his watch. 

This time, he wouldn’t fail. 

His chakra reserves making him dizzy, his body screaming that it was _over_ , Kakashi’s wove the familiar signs that he’d vowed he would never again use, and when he felt the lightning expand in his palm, he whispered its name. 

Heart thundering in his chest, Kakashi prayed to every god up there that the storm nin wouldn’t move an inch, because if he missed… 

The familiar tunneling effect filled Kakashi’s vision. 

_“Raikiri.”_ His legs blazed with pain, and blood loss sent his heart into a frenzy as he forced his body to move. 

Kakashi threw himself into the jutsu’s speed, letting it take over his senses as he hurtled forwards, meeting her head on. It was reckless and dangerous—he knew it deep in his bones, but there was no way that he could keep using purple lightning, it was too widespread, too easy to counter. _Raikiri_ was a blade, a chakra-born bringer of death. 

Blood sprayed in all directions, as Kakashi collided with the female rogue nin, the blue lightning catching her right in the center of her belly. She choked and spat, grimacing as Kakashi’s greater speed and weight sent them both careening into the mud. 

“Murderer—” Her last whisper was accompanied by a sickening smile, blood trickling from between her lips. 

Kakashi gasped slightly at the pain radiating from his leg. 

“Kakashi!” Iruka’s yell met his ears, panicked. 

Blinded by fatigue, and acting on pure instinct, Kakashi forced himself backwards, sliding and rolling back towards Iruka. 

Anything else that the chunin might have said was drowned out by the roar from above. Just as the lightning blasted the purple barrier, the sides of Iruka’s protective construct slammed down, sealing Iruka, the pre-genin, and Kakashi in a purple bubble. 

Panting harshly, Iruka swayed slightly on his knees, hands pressed together, and Kakashi could sense the chunin’s life energy draining with every passing second from where he lay in the mud. He desperately wanted to reach out to the chunin, to patch the wound in the man’s leg that spouted small dark rivers of blood. 

The lightning, unlike Kakashi’s own _Shiden,_ hit the barrier—then travelled into the ground in great, deadly channels of pure electricity, electrifying the surrounding air and arcing across the ground. The air was alive with the hum of the jutsu. 

No matter what, Kakashi knew that they would’ve been caught in the fallout of the strike if they’d tried to run. 

As soon as the lightning dissipated, Iruka began to fall, eyes falling closed. Kakashi dragged himself up from the ground and caught the man with a sharp huff. Kakashi lowered Iruka to the ground slowly, feeling the mud caking against his back and chest, freezing against the wound in his side. 

Iruka sucked in his breath, brown eyes staring at Kakashi with more than just physical pain. “Kakashi—”

_Safe…_

Closing his eyes, Kakashi felt the ex-Sand nin’s presence. The nin was pulling himself up against a tree, a wicked sword now grasped in one hand. 

Kakashi felt his limbs tremble and shake as he worked himself onto all fours, pushing back into a crouch as soon as he felt some semblance of stability enter his legs. Hands braced on his thighs, Kakashi took a deep breath and pushed upwards, bowed forwards, shoulders thrown forward, his body curved in an animalistic hunch, Kakashi dragged himself to his feet. 

Pain narrowed his vision, waves of darkness eating away at everything around him. 

Hideous burns covered the ex-Sand nin’s face, splitting his clothing nearly all the way through in an array of jagged lines. The storm nin, in her desperation to kill Kakashi, Iruka, and the pre-genin boy, had hit her own teammate. 

Swaying, Kakashi pushed himself into a standing position, eyes squeezing shut as every muscle in his body threatened to fold under his own bodyweight. 

The enemy nin was approaching, stumbling. 

A snarl on his lips, Kakashi lumped the rest of his chakra into a final jutsu, sluggishly making his way through the hand signs. 

Blue lightning flickered across his palm. 

He was going to die anyway, whether it be decades from now, weeks, ten minutes—or in a few seconds. If it meant keeping Iruka alive, and saving the boy, he would trade any one of those options in a heartbeat. 

There was a chance that this was it for _both_ of them—a very high chance. 

Iruka could bleed out if they didn’t find a medical ninja, and as for Kakashi… 

_“Raikiri.”_ The word rolled off his tongue, mumbled and barely coherent. 

As the darkness wavered nauseatingly beneath him, Kakashi threw himself into the tunnel, feeling his body follow the familiar acceleration of the deadly jutsu. He gave himself into the speed, feeling his legs stumble as the jutsu urged him to accelerate far past any hope of control. 

Kakashi’s fist connected with the man’s side, and he felt ribs crack against his fingers. His speed carrying him onwards, Kakashi grunted as first his hand—then his forearm—nearly up to his shoulder, sank into the nin’s body. Blood sprayed everywhere. 

His feet left the ground, and the world spun uncontrollably. 

With a sickening _crack_ , Kakashi felt his shoulder wrench out of its socket, and a blinding pain lit up his vision. A different sensation registered at almost the same time, jarring his sluggish brain. 

It was a cold feeling, a terrible pressure… And a feeling of his insides being pressed backwards. The pain took his breath away, causing Kakashi’s jaws to part in a silent scream. 

Kakashi had a moment of clarity before he slammed into the ground, mud squelching on all sides. The blade in his stomach twisted terribly, sticking upwards and glinting in the rain.

The blue light of the _raikiri_ faded, Kakashi’s arm still stuck through the body of the missing nin. 

The sword shifted in his stomach, and Kakashi coughed, blood rolling down the inside of the mask.

He couldn’t think—he couldn’t breathe, and his eyes could only focus on the hilt of the sword shoved through his belly. 

Shock numbing his every thought, Kakashi slowly toppled to the side, struggling to breathe as he collided with the earth. 

Breath shallow, Kakashi’s eyes stared upwards.

He only vaguely realized that the storm had subsided and there was now moonlight. 

_Failure?_ The word was garbled in his mind, the simple syllables refusing to register as he struggled to stay conscious.   
  


... _No._

He’d done it before, channeling chakra around the wound and severing off the pain with an iron fist… Now, though, he didn’t have the energy left to spare. 

The pre-genin were screaming, and he could hear a lower echo to the cry… Iruka perhaps? 

Shapes were moving, blurred and undistinguishable in Kakashi’s state. A light flashed, and for a moment, his brain thought it was a part of the storm. 

A hand found his, pulling at his attention. It was warm and alive, cradling his own, rapidly-cooling one. 

“Kakashi, hang on—please—” Iruka’s voice became his tether, his lifeline, and Kakashi let his head loll towards the chunin. 

Blood was bubbling at his lips, and Kakashi nearly choked, smothered as the thick liquid nearly blocked his breathing. A hand, gentle the entire time, peeled back his mask to reveal his face. 

His eyes fell shut as he diverted all energy into the words, knowing that, even if his voice did fail, the chunin could now see his lips move. 

“—love—you—” 

Iruka’s voice and touch was becoming more frantic as he checked for Kakashi’s pulse. 

Was that a green glow that Kakashi could see at the edge of his vision? He couldn’t tell. 

He was losing himself in the darkness, feeling it pull at every muscle in his body… and his mind…

The last thing that Kakashi thought of was how grateful he was to have been given a second chance to love Umino Iruka. 

* * *

A light breeze filtered softly through the window nearby, the curtains dancing slightly, casting shadows across the soft carpeting. 

Kakashi blinked slowly, eyes roving across the small row of plants on the windowsill, forming a neat line where they would get the most sunlight. A smile made its way up his face as he recognized the plant on the far left. 

It was a small aloe plant, supposedly very rare and long-living. He’d given it to Iruka years ago, just after the reconstruction of Konoha had begun. 

He closed his eyes and breathed as deeply as he dared possible, feeling his chest rub slightly against the cast which wrapped about his midsection, a hard layer which prevented both deep breaths and any major movement in his upper half.

Slowly, Kakashi rolled over in bed, grunting as he made the transition from his right shoulder and onto his back. He pulled the covers back over himself with his right arm, feeling a deep ache spread from his shoulder all the way down to his fingertips. 

Exhausted, he flopped back as gracefully as he could, wincing as his movements jostled the cast. 

Iruka murmured softly, and shifted closer to Kakashi, head lolling towards him slightly, a ghost of a smile on his lips. The chunin was still on a great deal of pain medication for the stab wound in his leg. It had become infected, but was no longer in any danger. Iruka, however, had seemed rather relaxed at the prospect of being housebound.

And Kakashi hadn’t minded it either, especially when Tsunade allowed them to stay together. 

Kakashi thought of the mountain of work waiting for him back in the Hokage office, and let out an involuntary soft chuckle. 

It all seemed so different now, so… _small._

His hand found Iruka’s and he gave it a light squeeze, and felt warmth fill him as the chunin returned the gesture, still fast asleep. 

Sighing softly, Kakashi knew he could manage now. He could roll with the punches and finish his term strong. 

Because now he knew there was hope on the other side. 

And a life worth looking forward to. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still cannot believe that it's only been two weeks since I started writing this fic--time flies (and ooh boy does my brain need a break)!  
> You can find find me on Tumblr [here](https://akumu-jubokko.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!! ❤️❤️


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